DOJ: Tech firms would aid terrorists by revealing NSA requests

Tech companies would violate surveillance laws and help terrorists avoid detection if they reveal government requests for data, the Department of Justice (DOJ) told the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

In a motion, the US government responded to requests from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and LinkedIn to publish more information about the national security-related requests for user information they receive. The companies argued that they should be able to release information about the number and types of requests they receive from the US government, as well as the number of accounts affected by those requests, so long as they don’t disclose the specific targets. The Justice Department said that's an “implausible reading” that “ignores the forest for the trees.” “The companies’ narrow focus on individual targets ignores that the disclosures would risk revealing the Government’s collection capabilities as they presently exist and as they develop in the future,” DOJ wrote. If terrorists have information about which companies are turning over information to the government, they would be able “to infer when the Government has acquired a collection capability on new services” and “which platforms and services are not subject to surveillance or are subject to only limited surveillance,” the response said.