Morning Consult reports Verizon Communications received 135,000 demands from the U.S. government for customer information during the first half of 2016, according to its recently released transparency report. Verizon said the number of requests has been stable over the past few years, but concerns regarding data held overseas have resulted in the company supporting the International Communications Privacy Act, a bill introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The legislation would allow law enforcement to demand the messages of U.S. citizens anywhere around the world, as long as they have a warrant. “ICPA would set a clear and reasonable limit on the U.S. government’s ability to use a warrant to obtain data stored outside the United States,” Verizon’s General Counsel Craig Silliman wrote in a blog post, saying the bill offers “a balanced approach to respecting the sovereignty of other countries, the needs of law enforcement and the privacy of all countries’ citizens.”
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