Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google to notify users of data requests

With the Snowden reports, many are starting to become concerned that the US government could be spying on them. That and the fact that there have been rumors about how tech companies are in cahoots with the NSA certainly did a good job at making everyone paranoid. Tech companies have since denied those claims and have gone to great lengths to ensure transparency. That being said, certain tech companies will now be updating their policies which will now include routine notification to their users whenever the authorities request secret data from them.

Major U.S. technology companies have largely ended the practice of quietly complying with investigators’ demands for e-mail records and other online data, saying that users have a right to know in advance when their information is targeted for government seizure. This increasingly defiant industry stand is giving some of the tens of thousands of Americans whose Internet data gets swept into criminal investigations each year the opportunity to fight in court to prevent disclosures. Prosecutors, however, warn that tech companies may undermine cases by tipping off criminals, giving them time to destroy vital electronic evidence before it can be gathered. Fueling the shift is the industry’s eagerness to distance itself from the government after last year’s disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance of online services.