Yahoo Seeks U.S. Declassification of Data-Gathering Efforts
October 19 2016 - 7:10PM
Dow Jones News
Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday asked U.S. Director of National
Intelligence James Clapper to allow the company to shed more light
on information gathering it is doing for the government.
In a letter, Yahoo General Counsel Ron Bell called on Mr.
Clapper to declassify information relating to an order that
reportedly prompted a widespread data gathering effort at the
internet company. The letter, dated Wednesday, was posted to
Yahoo's website.
Yahoo is looking to assuage users following media reports
earlier this month which said the company was scanning emails to
ferret out information for government intelligence officials.
As described by Reuters, the system was able to scan all
incoming emails. That would be an unprecedented surveillance
capability, said Alex Abdo, a senior staff attorney with the
American Civil Liberties Union.
Yahoo criticized the Reuters article as "misleading," and said
the email gathering system the article describes "does not exist."
But because details of government surveillance systems are often
classified or protected by court order, Yahoo appears to be unable
to fully describe the situation.
"Yahoo was mentioned specifically in these reports and we find
ourselves unable to respond in detail," Mr. Bell wrote.
Mr. Abdo applauded Yahoo's decision to press for more
disclosure. "The companies are in a bind because the government
subjects them to sweeping surveillance orders and prevents them
from speaking about the surveillance," he said.
Representatives from Mr. Clapper's office didn't immediately
respond to messages seeking comment. Two weeks ago, a spokesman
declined to discuss the methods that the intelligence community
uses to collect data. This "activity is narrowly focused on
specific foreign intelligence targets and does not involve bulk
collection or use generic key words or phrases," he said via
email.
Write to Robert McMillan at Robert.Mcmillan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2016 18:55 ET (22:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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