Today, Comcast releases it fourth Transparency Report, which provides information on the volume and categories of requests for customer information made by U.S. law enforcement and national security agencies at the federal, state, and local government levels in the first half of 2015. Requests for information made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) are subject to a six-month delay, so the information listed in that category covers the second half of 2014.
While Comcast is legally obligated to respond to lawful requests for customer-related information by these government agencies, we are committed to protecting our customers’ privacy. Accordingly, we carefully scrutinize each government request for data. Before providing any information to the government, we make sure that the request is appropriately tailored and that our response accords with governing law.
This Report provides the number of national security data requests that we receive in bands of 1,000, consistent with the guidance provided by the Department of Justice on the format and scope of such reports. We make this data available to the public in order to help enhance the transparency of government surveillance programs and to promote an open dialogue about the important privacy, law enforcement, and national security issues raised by those programs. In the meantime, we will continue to safeguard our customers’ privacy rights and ensure that our responses to government requests for information meet all applicable legal requirements.