As technology continues to advance and our digital lives become increasingly interconnected, it's crucial that we prioritize app user experience and ensure transparency around government data requests. In this era of digital communication, it's essential for technology companies to protect their users' rights by adopting robust policies and practices. In this report, we'll explore the criteria for evaluating company performance in this regard.

We live in a world where our daily lives are deeply intertwined with digital technologies. From social networks to location-aware apps on mobile phones, log-in data for connecting to email, stored documents, and search history – our personal, profound, and even absurd experiences are all captured in data packets whizzing through the fiber-optic arteries of the network.

The law has yet to keep pace with these advancements. The U.S. Congress has failed to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act to acknowledge that email stored more than six months deserves identical protections as email stored less than six months. Furthermore, Congress has yet to enact strong reforms to halt the NSA's indiscriminate surveillance of online communications.

In this climate, technology companies must take a stand in protecting user rights. Which companies will prioritize transparency and strong legal standards around government access to user data? And which companies make their policies public, allowing users to judge their stances on standing up for privacy rights?

For four years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has documented the practices of major Internet companies and service providers, highlighting best practices and identifying industry standards. Over time, we've witnessed a significant transformation among tech giants, with many publishing annual reports about government data requests and promising users notice when the government seeks access to their data.

However, times have changed, and users now expect more. The criteria we used to judge companies in 2011 were ambitious for the time, but they've been almost universally adopted since then. Today, users should expect companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon to be transparent about the types of content that is blocked or censored in response to government requests, as well as what deleted data is kept around in case government agents seek it in the future.

Evaluation Criteria

We used five criteria to assess company practices and policies:

  1. Industry-Accepted Best Practices: This category measures companies on three criteria:
  • Does the company require a warrant from a judge before handing over user content?
  • Does the company publish a transparency report about government data requests?
  • Does the company publish law enforcement guides explaining how they respond to data demands?

Companies must fulfill all three criteria to receive credit.

  1. Tell Users About Government Data Requests: To earn a star in this category, companies must promise to inform users when the U.S. government seeks their data unless prohibited by law or in an emergency situation. Notice gives users a chance to defend themselves against overreaching government demands for their data.

Conclusion

In our fifth annual report, we've refined our expectations around providing users notice and added new categories to highlight other important transparency and user rights issues. We're proud of the role our reports have played in pushing companies to institute these changes and expect even more from Silicon Valley in the future.

As technology continues to evolve and our digital lives become increasingly interconnected, it's crucial that we prioritize app user experience and ensure transparency around government data requests. By doing so, we can create a safer and more secure online environment for all users.