Government Reaches Deal With Tech Firms on Data Requests - Wall Street Journal

Updated Jan. 27, 2014 5:44 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON--The Obama administration has struck a tentative deal with major Internet companies allowing them to tell the public more details about how the government collects data on their customers, officials said Monday.

The deal, which must still be approved by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge, would allow Facebook Inc., FB -1.65% Facebook Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq ^$53.55 -0.90 -1.65% Jan. 27, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 73.37M AFTER HOURS ^$53.15 -0.40 -0.75% Jan. 27, 2014 6:30 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 637,699 P/E Ratio 124.53 Market Cap $137.13 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,487,770 01/27/14 How Facebook and Goldman Sachs... 01/27/14 Government Reaches Deal with T... 01/27/14 Judge Disqualified over Facebo... More quote details and news » FB in Your Value Your Change Short position Microsoft Corp. MSFT -2.11% Microsoft Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq ^$36.03 -0.78 -2.11% Jan. 27, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 42.45M AFTER HOURS ^$36.00 -0.03 -0.08% Jan. 27, 2014 6:22 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 1.99M P/E Ratio 13.20 Market Cap $305.51 Billion Dividend Yield 3.11% Rev. per Employee $841,040 01/27/14 Government Reaches Deal with T... 01/27/14 Microsoft Backs a Tech Movemen... 01/27/14 Microsoft Buys Rights to Hit V... More quote details and news » MSFT in Your Value Your Change Short position , Apple Inc., AAPL +0.81% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq ^$550.50 +4.43 +0.81% Jan. 27, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 14.92M AFTER HOURS ^$508.70 -41.80 -7.59% Jan. 27, 2014 6:31 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 5.39M P/E Ratio 13.79 Market Cap $487.40 Billion Dividend Yield 2.22% Rev. per Employee $2,127,850 01/27/14 Government Reaches Deal with T... 01/27/14 Apple Had Trouble Keeping Up w... 01/27/14 Justice Department Reaches Dea... More quote details and news » AAPL in Your Value Your Change Short position Google Inc., GOOG -2.01% Google Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq ^$1101.23 -22.60 -2.01% Jan. 27, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.20M AFTER HOURS ^$1098.00 -3.23 -0.29% Jan. 27, 2014 6:24 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 159,142 P/E Ratio 31.22 Market Cap $375.46 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,059,710 01/27/14 Government Reaches Deal with T... 01/27/14 Justice Department Reaches Dea... 01/27/14 The Morning Download: 'Evoluti... More quote details and news » GOOG in Your Value Your Change Short position LinkedIn Corp. LNKD -5.60% LinkedIn Corp. Cl A U.S.: NYSE ^$205.22 -12.17 -5.60% Jan. 27, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.98M AFTER HOURS ^$202.02 -3.20 -1.56% Jan. 27, 2014 5:47 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 16,613 P/E Ratio 641.31 Market Cap $25.96 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $400,504 01/27/14 Government Reaches Deal with T... 01/27/14 Justice Department Reaches Dea... 12/09/13 EdgeCast Forgoes IPO to Become... More quote details and news » LNKD in Your Value Your Change Short position and Yahoo Inc. YHOO -3.32% Yahoo! Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq ^$36.65 -1.26 -3.32% Jan. 27, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 26.54M AFTER HOURS ^$36.32 -0.33 -0.90% Jan. 27, 2014 6:28 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 196,822 P/E Ratio 30.54 Market Cap $38.46 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $406,873 01/27/14 Government Reaches Deal with T... 01/27/14 Justice Department Reaches Dea... 01/27/14 The Morning Ledger: Tech Secto... More quote details and news » YHOO in Your Value Your Change Short position to give more aggregate data about the demands they receive from the government.

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Since June, when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents showing the government had access to far more Internet and phone traffic than previously known, the companies have been under pressure from customers to explain what customer information they share with the U.S. government.

The new deal was completed late last week. Five of the companies were fighting the government in court, while Apple filed a "friend of the court" brief but didn't formally join the litigation.

The deal aims to strike a balance between the government's interest in not having the details of such requests revealed in a way that would help the targets of investigations and companies' interest in responding to customers' concerns about government monitoring of the Internet.

The terms would also apply to other companies that weren't specifically part of the litigation, officials said.

"We filed our lawsuits because we believe that the public has a right to know about the volume and types of national security requests we receive," a joint statement from Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo said. "We're pleased the Department of Justice has agreed that we and other providers can disclose this information. While this is a very positive step, we'll continue to encourage Congress to take additional steps to address all of the reforms we believe are needed."

The American Civil Liberties Union also praised the move.

"This is a victory for transparency and a critical step toward reining in excessive government surveillance,'' said ACLU attorney Alex Abdo. He said Congress should require further disclosures, including spying that happens without the involvement of the tech firms.

Terms of the deal were negotiated principally between the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, and the general counsels for the tech companies, according to a U.S. official briefed on the discussions. In a statement, Attorney General Eric Holder said permitting the disclosures "addresses an important area of concern to communications providers and the public.'' He said more work would be done on such privacy and security issues in coming weeks.

Under the new disclosure terms, companies could give out general figures for how often they get certain types of government demands for information, such as National Security Letters from the Federal Bureau of Investigation or court orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Companies will have the option of reporting each individual category, as long as they report ranges of 1,000. So, for example, if a company receives 2,400 National Security Letter requests in a six-month period, they will report that they received between 2,000 and 3,000 such requests.

The companies would also be allowed to say, in similar general numbers, how many customer accounts are affected by the requests, the officials said. Companies would be allowed to share the number of law enforcement and National Security Letter requests they receive in real time, but there would be a six-month delay in reporting the number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court requests.

Under an alternative option, companies could report more specific number ranges, in increments of 250 requests, but then they would have to lump a few categories together. So, for instance, if a company got 210 National Security Letters and 40 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders, they would report having received between 250 and 500 such requests in the six-month period.

-Danny Yadron contributed to this article.

Write to Devlin Barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com

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