Telecom giant Rogers got 175,000 info requests from government:
Rogers is the first major Canadian telecommunications company to issue a so-called transparency report on co-operation with law enforcement.
However, one of Canada’s smaller telecommunications companies, Teksavvy, issued a similar report yesterday in response to a request from University of Toronto researchers. Its report revealed that it received just 52 requests from government and law enforcement agencies in 2012 and 2013. It said it complied with a third of the requests and denied the rest.
The releases come as civil libertarians and privacy advocates urge companies and governments to be more forthcoming about when and how customer data is shared.
A study by University of Toronto researchers recently gave low marks to Canada’s internet service providers about how they handle customer information — including whether they routinely give personal data to spy agencies.
Rogers says it does not allow agencies direct access to its customer databases, nor does it hand over metadata — the routing codes and other data about emails and calls — without a warrant.
“We only provide the information we are required to provide and this information is retrieved by our staff.”
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