Many Companies Lag in Defending Users Against Government Access to Their Data, Says EFF

Nine of 26 tech and telecom companies earned credit for policies that defended users' privacy against government data requests and national security letter gag orders, said the annual Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Who Has Your Back" report released Monday. EFF said Credo, Lyft and Uber were among those that fulfilled all five categories, while Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft and Yahoo earned four stars. AT&T, Comcast, T-Mobile and Verizon were given one star for the category of following industry best practices such as having a policy requiring the government to get a warrant for data, publishing transparency reports and explaining how it responds to government demands for data. Those four companies didn't comment. The other four categories were providing notices to users when there's a government data request; ensuring such data isn't given to governments via third-party vendors; standing up to gag orders (see 1612010071); and committing to changes in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act (see 1706270052). EFF said companies are becoming more transparent since the report was first issued seven years ago, in part due to more public attention.