Google Inc, Apple Inc and other technology firms were allowed to provide more information regarding government orders involving customer data, Bloomberg reported. The companies had asked for the permission in a bid to strengthen their reputations after their role in US spying was made known, the report said.
The firms would be able to broadly reveal the number of accounts that the government requests covered and if the content of their communications was being asked for, the report said.
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Analyst Daniel Castro told Bloomberg that the help given by agreement to the companies that want to manage the worldwide backlash about their role in US spying will only be limited. Castro said that in the next three years, the issue could cost the US economy anywhere from $22 billion to $35 billion, the report said.
Castro said in an email, "It doesn't clear up the fear, doubt and uncertainty that is hurting the ability of U.S. companies to sell their products and services abroad."
The firms had stated their case to President Barack Obama and other senior officials of the US government in an effort to show that they protect privacy and carefully examine government requests. The companies said their reputations and future profits were endangered by the revelations of Edward Snowden who said that the National Security Agency were able to pull out information about the Internet use of their customers, the report said.
The pact enables the companies to unveil the aggregate numbers of orders from the Prism program of the National Security Agency and national security letters asking information related to investigations. This is the first time that companies will be able to publish this information as they had been previously barred from providing details concerning the orders or even confirm if they received them, the report said.
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