Verizon reveals govt. made 320,000 user snoop-data requests in 2013

Mobile carrier Verizon has reportedly said that it received 3,20,000 snoop-data requests about consumers by the US government as part of its mass surveillance programmes.

In its transparency report, the company stated that it received 1,64,000 subpoenas and nearly 71,000 legal orders.

According to Cnet, Verizon said that among the legal orders, 1,500 wiretap requests had also been made, apart from 37,000 warrants for information and about 50,000 'emergency requests'.

The company's transparency report follows series of revelations made by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden about the US' alleged mass surveillance operations that covered citizens and global leaders alike, forcing internet and telecom companies to reveal the extent of data demanded by the intelligence agencies.

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other such companies, which were embroiled in the alleged snoop-ops, have released their respective transparency reports.

The report said that Verizon's data points that its database of customers is a possible goldmine for the intelligence agencies to locate a targeted person's location information and 'content that a customer may store through its services, such as text messages or e-mail'.

However, the mobile carrier has insisted that it doesn't provide information unless it's legally bound to do so, the report added.