Washington (December 20, 2013) – On the heels of his investigation that revealed the scope and extent of law enforcement requests for Americans’ personal mobile phone information, Senator Edward J. Markey, released the following statement commending AT&T after its announcement to publish semiannual transparency reports disclosing law enforcement requests for customer information. For the past two years, Senator Markey’s investigation revealed expanded use of wireless surveillance of Americans, including more than one million requests for the personal mobile phone data of Americans in 2012 by law enforcement. Senator Markey, a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, began his investigation last year, revealing 1.3 million requests in 2011 for wireless data by federal, state, and local law enforcement and plans to introduce legislation to ensure protections for wireless phone information.

 

“I commend AT&T for its commitment to transparency, and I hope additional wireless carriers will follow AT&T's and Verizon’s lead and disclose their law enforcement requests for customers’ wireless information. Americans’ privacy and rights are at stake. I plan to introduce legislation to strengthen privacy safeguards for consumers and increase regular disclosure of requests for this information about Americans.”