We call upon the U.S. to issue a transparency report which describes the numbers and types of governmental requests for user data made to Internet companies, the types of information sought from such companies, and meaningful statistics regarding the number of requests for data concerning U.S. and non-U.S. citizens.
Much of this information, particularly that related to use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), is already reported to Congress as required by law. But the public conversation about national security and privacy that has been sparked by stories about FISA and PRISM can only be fully informed if the U.S. shares publicly more of the information it possesses.
We anticipate that a transparency report could be created without compromising national security.