Verizon Reports a Rise to 145,000 Law Enforcement Demands in First Half of Year
Verizon received 144,748 subpoenas, orders and other requests from federal, state and local law enforcement in the first half of 2018, up from 138,773 and 132,858 in the first and second halves of 2017, said its U.S. transparency report Wednesday.…
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There were 69,596 subpoenas, 31,239 emergency requests, 30,361 orders (general, pen registers/trap and trace, and wiretap) and 13,552 warrants. The telco noted the Supreme Court's June 22 Carpenter ruling, "a case addressing whether law enforcement must obtain a warrant based on probable cause, as opposed to an order based on a lesser showing, in order to compel a wireless carrier to release historical cell site location information" (see 1806220052). A court majority concluded a warrant is necessary, Verizon noted. Since then, "Verizon has accepted only probable cause warrants before releasing historical location information. We have seen an increase in warrants during the past month," it said. The company also reported demands in the first half of 2018 "from law enforcement for customer information" in other countries where the company does business and it's not prohibited from reporting the information.