Verizon: US government made 320,000 requests for data in 2013

Verizon says it received more than 320,000 requests for customer information from U.S. federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in 2013. That number was more than 100 times as many as requests from any other country, Verizon Communications said in its first surveillance transparency report. It also dwarfed the number of requests made to large tech vendors, as Google received about 11,000 law enforcement requests in the first half of 2013, while Yahoo received about 12,000, and Apple less than 2,000 in the same time frame, PC World reported Wednesday. Verizon received more than 164,000 subpoenas from U.S. law enforcement agencies and nearly 71,000 court orders, it said in its report. Verizon, on its corporate blog, said it intends to update the transparency report twice a year. "The past year saw an intense focus around the world on government demands to obtain customer data," wrote Randal Milch, Verizon's general counsel and executive vice president for public policy, law, and security, and the transparency report will "add to the ongoing conversation about privacy and public safety."