Google reveals data on secretive FBI subpoenas

Google revealed statistics about the number of secretive national security requests for user data it receives every year from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The company said that for each of the past four years, it has received fewer than one thousand of the requests, known as National Security Letters. Those requests covered data on between 1,000 and 1,999 user accounts, except for 2010, when the requests covered between 2,000 and 2,999 accounts. Google said the requests only cover subscriber information, such as the names of the sender and receiver of an email. The company said it does not provide the contents of emails, search histories, YouTube videos or user IP addresses. Richard Salgado, Google's director of law enforcement and information security, said the company worked with government officials to provide greater insight into the process. Salgado said the company had to provide numerical ranges instead of exact figures to address the concerns raised by the FBI, the Justice Department and other agencies that exact numbers could reveal information about sensitive investigations.

Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the number of National Security Letters was not surprising but the fact that Google released them at all was "unprecedented."