Scoreboard Showing Which Tech Companies Protect User Data From the Government

'Who Has Your Back' report criticizes Amazon and WhatsApp, among other companies.

July 13, 2017 5:00 am
Government Privacy Tech Companies
Amazon and WhatsApp get failing grades from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group. (Getty Images)

When it comes to protecting user privacy, Uber is on the right road, while Amazon seems to just mail it in.

Technology companies collect troves of data on its users, access to which is often requested by government. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group, released its annual report detailing which companies protect its users—and which ones roll over when the government comes knocking.

The “Who Has Your Back” report examined 26 companies to determine how they rate across five categories that cover their internal policies and their relationship with the government, according to The Guardian.

Nine companies earned passing marks in all five categories, including Lyft, Uber, Adobe, and Dropbox. Some of the biggest names in tech, such as Apple and Google, earned four stars.

Both Amazon and WhatsApp, though, “fall short of other similar technology companies,” the report found.

The EFF criticized both companies for not having a policy regarding how it dealt with government subpoenas for information, known as national security letters. However, all four telecom companies received the worst grades for failing to prioritize privacy over government demands.

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