Verizon's First Transparency Report Shows 320,000 Requests In 2013

Verizon has published its first ever transparency report, and in it we get a glimpse of how many requests the carrier received for data, including a general range for number of National Security Letters it was sent. In total, the carrier was hit with about 320,000 requests over the course of last year, which is further broken down into the types each request falls under.

According to the report, 164,184 of the requests were in the form of subpoenas, which compels the carrier to provide the requested information as long as the subpoena is valid. Over 50-percent of these requests are for subscriber information, such as an IP address or name and address. Others request things like transactional info.

From there, it received a total of 70,665 orders, which includes things like general orders (62,857), pen registers/Trap & Trace orders (6,312), and wiretap orders (1,496). Such orders are issued by a court and signed by a judge, which requires Verizon to hand over the information requested. The majority of this was for "basic information."

Emergency law enforcement data requests came in at about 50,000, though an exact number couldn't be provided — these requests involve a written certification that the emergency is of a serious nature with a danger of injury or death to a person if the information is delayed. All of this is rounded out by the National Security Letters, which ranges from 1000 to 2000, though again a specific number couldn't be provided.

SOURCE: Verizon