Comcast has issued its first-ever transparency report, becoming the first cable company to release information about government data requests.
The report, released on Thursday, revealed that Comcast has received 25,000 requests from the U.S. federal, state and local law enforcement and government agencies in 2013.
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The vast majority of those (19,377) are subpoenas, which "seek basic customer account information," according to the report. Comcast also received 3,893 court orders, including just two wiretaps, which allow law enforcement agencies access to real-time content of a customer's communications. Law enforcement agencies also sent 253 warrants seeking the content of customer's past communications.
Comcast told Mashable that the numbers represent the requests the company received, not the ones that it complied with.
With the report, Comcast is the latest in what is now a long series of companies that disclose this kind of data. Google and Twitter were the first ones to do it. Then in 2013, more tech companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple and even Pinterest, followed suit. Most, it has to be noted, did it after the Edward Snowden leaks began.
Even telecom companies, long maligned for keeping mum about government surveillance — and sometimes accused of helping it — jumped on the transparency bandwagon recently. Verizon and AT&T released their first reports in early 2014. But CREDO Mobile, a small and liberal-leaning cellphone provider, was first telecom company to publish a transparency report.
Just like the rest of companies, Comcast wasn't allowed to disclose detailed information about requests related to national security. So numbers regarding National Security Letters and requests and orders stemming from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are only disclosed in broad ranges.
In the blog post announcing the report, the company stressed its commitment to customers' privacy.
"Protecting our customers’ privacy is among our highest priorities and is required by the Cable Act, one of the strictest federal privacy laws," wrote Gerard Lewis, Comcast's Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer. "So with every request, whether it is from a local police department or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, we make sure it complies with applicable legal standards before we respond with any information."
Comcast also announced that they will release a transparency report every six months.
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