Google Asks DOJ Permission To Publish Number of FISA Data Requests It Receives

Google’s top lawyer is asking Washington law makers to let the company expand its transparency report to include secret court orders like the kind involved in the NSA surveillance scandal. In a letter posted to Google’s blog, David Drummond addresses Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller, arguing that when the government allowed Google to disclose the number of National Security Letters the company gets (another form of data request), nothing bad happened. So why not extend the disclosure permissions to requests under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), as well? Google says this will improve transparency and not harm national security at all.