Public Policy
Comcast Releases Seventh Transparency Report
Today, Comcast releases its Seventh 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 during the second half of 2016. Requests for information made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are subject to a six-month delay, so the information falling into that category in the Seventh Report covers the first half of 2016.
While Comcast is legally obligated to respond to lawful requests for customer-related information by these government agencies, we are also 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 500, consistent with the guidance provided in the USA Freedom Act 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 and ensure that our responses to government requests for information meet all applicable legal requirements.