Yahoo has reportedly urged the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow it reveal files related to a 2008 case in which the company claims that it denied providing customer data to the government.
The company said in a court filing that the release of files would show how the company ‘objected strenuously’, after the National Security Agency (NSA) demanded its customers’ data.
Yahoo claimed that the files would shed light on the pretext, government agencies convinced tech companies to share information and help people understand how the data gathering programmes were approved.
Yahoo, along with Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and other firms were identified in NSA documents revealed in June this year as the companies participating in the US surveillance programme, Prism.
Yahoo said in the filing: "Release of this court’s decision and the parties’ briefing is necessary to inform the growing public debate about how this court considers and examines the government’s use of directives."
The company is reported to have received between 12,000 to 13,000 requests for customers’ information from the US law enforcement agencies between 1 December 2012 and 31 May 2013.
Last month, three major US tech firms, Google, Microsoft and Facebook urged the US government to allow them publish more national security request data.
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Google has also asked the surveillance court to ease the gag order over, citing the US 1st Amendment that gives it the right to talk under free speech protections.
