AT&T Got National Security Requests for 35,000 Accounts -- Update

By Thomas Gryta 

AT&T Inc. received requests on national security grounds for detailed information for at least 35,000 customer accounts in the first six months of 2013, the company disclosed in its first report describing official requests for customer data.

The report follows a recent agreement between the Justice Department and major Internet companies to make public more information about security requests. Under that agreement, telecommunications companies can now disclose limited information about the requests but is restricted in what it can supply such as the requests can only be enumerated them in blocks of 1,000.

AT&T is the first major phone company to disclose the details of requests it gets under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Rival Verizon Communications Inc. made a similar disclosure last month without disclosing requests for information under the surveillance law. Verizon plans to update its transparency report to release that information, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

The requests, granted by the FISA court, are the same type released last summer by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. That set off a national debate about the extent of the NSA's information-gathering tactics and included an order compelling Verizon to turn over "metadata" about where and when its customers were making phone calls.

In the first six months of last year, AT&T said it received fewer than 1,000 requests for detailed information under the federal surveillance act that sought information from at least 35,000 accounts. Those requests, which include such information as location data, are issued through a court order.

The company also received between 2,000 and 2,999 government requests for information about its customers on national security grounds last year. Those so-called national security letters sought access to at least 4,000 customer accounts.

The national security letters are subpoenas from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and have more limited information, such as customer profile information, telephone numbers and call details, than those issued through the FISA court.

In criminal and civil matters, AT&T said it received 301,816 requests from federal, state and local law enforcement for U.S. customer information in 2013. That compares to 321,545 requests reported by Verizon last month over the same period.

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