We are very pleased that following our shareholder proposal, Verizon released its first transparency report today. We applaud Verizon for finally making it clear how much information is being demanded by the United States government without a warrant, including location information, and for also pushing for even greater transparency. While this transparency report does not provide a full picture to the public about government and civil demands for information, it is rich with information that is essential for citizens around the world to know. Verizon took an important step in the right direction today.

Some of the highlights from the U.S. portion of the report:

Verizon is receiving a flood of demands from law enforcement for customer information and the demands are continuing to rise.

We know now that Verizon received 320,000 government demands from federal, state, or local law enforcement in the United States in 2013, an overall increase from 2012.