AT&T Transparency Report Shows Slight Dip in Number of Law Enforcement Requests

AT&T received nearly 143,000 demands for customer information from federal, state and local criminal and civil government agencies for the second half of 2015, about 2,000 fewer requests than during the first half, it said in a transparency report Tuesday. During the period, the company said, it acquired DirecTV, which has been included in the report but accounts for less 1 percent of total demands received by AT&T. Of the demands for the second half, more than 105,000 were subpoenas, more than 18,700 were general court orders and more than 19,000 were search warrants or probable cause court orders. AT&T said it rejected or challenged nearly 2,500 demands while providing partial or no information on more than 35,000. The company also said it provided more than 38,000 "location demands," nearly 63,000 emergency requests, and a range of 500 to 999 requests for national security letters. Due to a required six-month delay in reporting Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act information order requests, AT&T said it received between 0 and 499 FISA orders for both content and noncontent during the first half of 2015.