Yahoo Demands Government Be More Transparent About Data Requests

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In a letter to the Director of National Intelligence, the tech company says this transparency would also help clear Yahoo’s name in customer email scan case.

Yahoo has written to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper demanding that the government be more transparent with US citizens about the user data request orders it issues to tech companies, VentureBeat reports. The letter further emphasized that Direct Clapper’s clarification would also give Yahoo a chance to clear its name in the recent allegations against it for secretly scanning user emails on government orders.

Often, merely disclosing that one had received official these orders is considered illegal, says VentureBeat, but following the Edward Snowden case, many tech companies have started to release periodic transparency reports to the public.

The Director of National Intelligence’s office has said it would reply to Yahoo’s mail, says Reuters.

“Years after the Snowden revelations, the government still appears not to have learned the importance of meaningful transparency about the scope of its surveillance authorities,” American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Alex Abdo told VentureBeat. “Without that basic information, the public cannot understand or debate the wisdom and legality of those authorities.”