Yahoo releases first transparency report, says government data requests covered <.01% of its userbase

Yahoo published its first global transparency report today detailing the number of government requests for user data throughout the first six months of 2013. The US came out on top, with 12,444 data requests spanning 40,322 different accounts or users.

Of these, Yahoo disclosed some user data in 4,604 cases, and only non-content data (described as basic subscriber information, although this could include a user’s name, location, IP address, login details and billing information) in 6,798 cases. That means at least some data related to Yahoo users was handed over to the US government for 92 percent of requests.

Germany ranked second with 4,295 data requests spanning 5,306 government specific accounts. Italy then rounded out the top three with 2,637 data requests covering 2,937 accounts or users. Data requests from the remaining nations all totalled less than 2,000, affecting 2,832 accounts at most.

Yahoo has emphasized in a blog post that these requests covered less than one-hundredth of one percent (<.01%) of its worldwide user base.

“Our legal department demands that government data requests be made through lawful means and for lawful purposes,” it reads. “We regularly push back against improper requests for user data, including fighting requests that are unclear, improper, overbroad or unlawful.”

Henceforth, Yahoo will continue to update its global transparency report every six months.

➤ Yahoo Transparency Report (blog post)

Image Credit: Justin Sullivan via Getty Images