Opening Word document…

Companies say no.

TPI 20 (The Privacy Issue is an editorial platform established by IVPN, an Internet privacy company founded in 2009. IVPN's mission is to enable humans with the power to control and secure their private information online.) "The Battle Over Compelled Data Sharing." Privacy Issue, 13 Feb. 2020, theprivacyissue.com/government-surveillance/battle-compelled-data-sharing.

In addition to publishing transparency reports, companies are pushing back against compelled data handover by fighting the government in court. In 2016, the FBI brought a lawsuit in an attempt to compel Apple to obtain data from an iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooter, who had killed 14 people in a terrorist attack. Apple refused, citing the need to preserve the security of their users and their systems. The FBI eventually dropped the case after contracting its own hackers to access the data, but Apple gained a reputation for taking a stand against the government in privacy-related cases. The method used to access the iPhone has never been made public, though security researchers have made educated guesses.

The clash between the government and companies for control over user data has grown since 2016, with tech giants like Microsoft leading the charge. In 2016, the company sued the Department of Justice over its regular issuance of extensive gag orders. “The proportion [of demands to disclose stored data] was significant – gag orders were attached to well over half of the law enforcement demands they had received,” Nojeim explains, “[In 2017] they settled the case, and the Department of Justice agreed to limitations on its issuance of gag orders.” Even Google – with its reputation for close cooperation with the NSA – brought a lawsuit in an attempt to resist gag orders in 2013, arguing that the enforced secrecy infringes on the company’s First Amendment rights.

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