President Obama has defended US surveillance tactics
Google, Facebook and Microsoft have asked the US government to allow them to disclose the security requests they receive for handing over user data.
The move comes after recent reports claimed that US authorities had direct access to the servers of nine major US tech firms, including Google and Apple.
Google said the claims were "untrue" but added that nondisclosure rules of such requests "fuel that speculation".
The US has confirmed the existence of the surveillance programme.
David Drummond, chief legal officer of Google has written to the US Attorney General seeking permission to publish "aggregate numbers of national security requests, including Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) disclosures - in terms of both the number we receive and their scope".
"Google's numbers would clearly show that our compliance with these requests falls far short of the claims being made. Google has nothing to hide," he said in the letter.
Microsoft added that "permitting greater transparency on the aggregate volume and scope of national security requests, including FISA orders, would help the community understand and debate these important issues''.
Ted Ullyot, Facebook's general counsel, said the social networking leader wants to provide "a complete picture of the government requests we receive, and how we respond".
Source: BBC News - Business http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22867185#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
