Verizon, AT&T shareholders demand more transparency over government data demands

The largest US phone companies, Verizon and AT&T, have all along maintained a discreet silence about their involvement with the US government's controversial national security surveillance programmes.

The telecom giants are now facing pressure from influential shareholders calling for more transparency about government requests for user information, including demands made by the National Security Agency (NSA) under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Shareholders are urging the two companies  to follow the lead given by the nation's largest internet companies, including Google, Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook, which all publish transparency reports (See: Apple follows Google, Facebook in revealing US requests for user data).

The companies have currently locked horns with the government over the issue of greater transparency about government data demands.

Internet and telecom firms are now under intense scrutiny after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, leaked classified documents describing the companies' participation in the NSA's snooping programmes.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund, which manages $160.7 billion on behalf of over 1 million state employees and retirees, is leading the effort for greater transparency.

Time  magazine qouted New York State Comptroller Thomas P DiNapoli, trustee of the fund, as saying, AT&T's failure to disclose what customer information it shared with US and foreign governments presented significant risk to shareholder value.

Along with Trillium Asset Management of Boston, the fund has filed proposals for the spring shareholder meetings of AT&T and Verizon.

Resolutions at the funds call on the companies to report semi-annually on "metrics and discussion regarding requests for customer information by US and foreign governments."

Controversies over the use of users' data by US intelligence agencies have, in recent times, swirled around the telcos as they carry huge amounts of voice and data traffic.

On Monday the US Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a ruling giving the government access to Verizon records of millions of telephone calls.

Reuters quoted Trillium senior vice president Jonas Kron as saying, a worry was the close ties could hurt the companies' business.

He added, from an investor perspective, this was one of those issues where there was an overlap of interests, among privacy advocates and business groups.

Reuters quoted DiNapoli, the prime sponsor of the resolution at AT&T, saying customer trust was critical for any business, but nowhere was it more so than for those corporations that handled users' personal data and communications.