Amazon's First Transparency Report Is Finally Out
After years of silence, e-commerce giant has finally released its first transparency report, highlighting that it was never part of the government's PRISM surveillance program.
"Where we need to act publicly to protect customers, we do. Amazon never participated in the NSA's PRISM program," said Stephen Schmidt, chief information security officer for Amazon Web Services.
Reportedly, Amazon is the last major tech company in the Fortune 500 to disclose how time times governments have come knocking on its door, demanding customer and user data, Zdnet noted.
Schmidt added in the blog post that the report, which covers the six months starting January 1 and ending May 31, will be released biannually.
Some highlights of the report:
- Amazon received 813 subpoenas, of which it fully complied with 66 percent;
- Amazon received 35 search warrants, of which it fully complied with just over half;
- Out of the other 13 other court orders it received, Amazon fully complied with just four;
- Amazon received 132 foreign requests, of which it fully complied with 82 percent;
- Amazon complied with the one removal orders (like user data) it received
The company also disclosed that it had received between zero and 249 national security requests, such as a court order issued by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. However, it did not specifically say whether or not it had received a single classified order.
