The Feds tell Google, et al., that they can report on FISA court request numbers … but only if they moosh them up with a bunch of other numbers.
'The government gave the companies permission to publish the numbers only if they were grouped with all other government requests, including those from state and local governments and for criminal cases, making it difficult to glean any information about the national security requests.'
Since Google already has permission to print NSL request counts separately, that would actually be a step backwards. Not helpful, Justice Department.
Reshared post from +Google
We have always believed that it's important to differentiate between different types of government requests. We already publish criminal requests separately from National Security Letters: http://goo.gl/OCFck Lumping the two categories together would be a step back for users. Our request to the government is clear: to be able to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately.
For more background please read this New York Times piece: http://goo.gl/t5P7e
Google Calls U.S. Data Request Disclosures a Step Backward for Users
Google pressed the government to allow it to publish more granular data on national security requests than Facebook or Microsoft published, and said anything less did not provide enough transparency.