U.S. National Security Orders Report
Explore the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Orders and National Security Letters reports dating back to 2011.
Legal requests
In early 2014, we received permission to publish data about the legal demands we receive from the U.S. Government pursuant to national security laws. We update this information every six months.
Requests received
We report on the number of orders received; however, receipt of an order does not mean Microsoft ultimately disclosed the information sought. We have successfully challenged requests in court, and will continue to do so, when we believe there are grounds for a challenge.
The government previously permitted requests to be reported in bands of 1,000. The passage of the USA Freedom Act enabled us to report Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests and National Security Letters (NSLs) in narrower ranges and we are providing our recent data using the new range. The aggregate FISA data covers six-month periods but can only be published six months after the end of a reporting period.
|
Reporting period |
Orders seeking disclosure of content |
Accounts impacted by orders seeking content |
Orders seeking disclosure of only non-content |
Accounts impacted by non-content orders |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
July - Dec 2019 |
0 - 499 |
14,500 - 14,999 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
Jan – June 2019 |
0 - 499 |
14,000 - 14,499 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
July - Dec 2018 |
0 - 499 |
13,500 - 13,999 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
Jan - June 2018 |
0 - 499 |
13,000 - 13,499 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
July - Dec 2017 |
0 - 499 |
12,500 - 12,999 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
Jan - June 2017 |
0 - 499 |
12,500 - 12,999 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
July - Dec 2016 |
0 - 499 |
13,000 - 13,499 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
Jan - June 2016 |
0 - 499 |
12,000 - 12,499 |
0 - 499 |
1,000 - 1,499 |
|
July - Dec 2015 |
0 - 499 |
17,500 - 17,999 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
Jan - June 2015 |
0 - 499 |
15,500 - 15,999 |
0 - 499 |
0 - 499 |
|
July - Dec 2014 |
0 - 999 |
18,000 - 18,999 |
0 - 999 |
0 - 999 |
|
Jan - June 2014 |
0 - 999 |
19,000 - 19,999 |
0 - 999 |
0 - 999 |
|
July - Dec 2013 |
0 - 999 |
18,000 - 18,999 |
0 - 999 |
0 - 999 |
|
Jan - June 2013 |
0 - 999 |
15,000 - 15,999 |
0 - 999 |
0 - 999 |
|
July - Dec 2012 |
0 - 999 |
16,000 - 16,999 |
0 - 999 |
0 - 999 |
|
Jan - June 2012 |
0 - 999 |
11,000 - 11,999 |
0 - 999 |
0 - 999 |
|
July - Dec 2011 |
0 - 999 |
11,000 - 11,999 |
0 - 999 |
0 - 999 |
No. Microsoft adheres to the same principles for all types of government demands for user data and does so across all Microsoft services.
As a result of reforms in the USA Freedom Act, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) periodically reviews the need for non-disclosure provisions associated with previously issued National Security Letters (NSL’s). Microsoft was notified by the FBI during this report period that, following such a review, non-disclosure requirements were lifted for an NSL the company received in January 2014. The NSL sought data belonging to a customer of Microsoft consumer services. Pursuant to our transparency commitments, we have notified the customer directly, and a copy of the NSL can be viewed in the downloadable National Security letter PDF. While the content of this NSL is now public for the first time, its existence was previously included in the aggregate data contained in the Microsoft National Security Orders Report published every six months. Multiple technology companies have previously disclosed similar NSLs following USA Freedom Act reviews.
