Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is in a quandary over compliance as they are facing an ever increasing number of requests from law enforcement agencies, to hand over user data, without users being notified. This issue is not a new one as it has been a problem not only for Facebook, but also for Twitter, Apple and Google to name but a few.
Currently, Facebook requires law enforcement agencies to obtain a court order, if they want to obtain a users information without them being notified. Law enforcement agencies are pressuring Facebook to relax this requirement, on the grounds that users should not be notified, as it could alert them to the government’s interest in their activities.
Facebooks official response is that it is committed to transparency, and an important part of that is notification to users, of such requests. Compounding the problem is the apparent lack of cooperation between several of the government agencies, forcing each agency to make a request for the information that it wants.
The issue gained notoriety when the NSA’s whistle blower Edward Snowden, leaked that the NSA had hacked Facebook’s servers for data collection purposes. Under the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act the government is restricted from tapping into data transmissions from computers.
The uproar surrounding Snowden’s revelations has put users on edge as to what information is being provided by companies to the government. This has forced Facebook, and other similar companies, to make a definitive statement as to their position on providing confidential user information. Major technological companies have been careful to publicly distance themselves from the government, following the revelations, in order to retain their users business and trust.
