Evernote has always been open about how we treat our users’ data. Our commitment to openness and transparency includes helping our users understand how we respond to third-party requests for account information.
In this Transparency Report, we detail, to the extent that we are legally permitted to do so, the number and type of requests for user information that we received in 2013. We have also provided the number of requests to which we responded by disclosing user data.
| Type of Demand for Data |
Number Received |
Responded with Data |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal requests from US governmental entities1 | 6 | 2 |
| US government national security requests2 | 0-250 | 0-250 |
| Other third-party legal requests for user information | 1 | 1 |
We did not receive any requests for user information from non-US governmental entities in 2013.
Whenever we receive a request for user information, we scrutinize it carefully and respond as narrowly as possible under the law and in accordance with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. As outlined in our Information for Authorities page, we require requests for user information to meet minimum criteria in order to be considered. We also require a search warrant before considering the disclosure of the contents of an Evernote account.
In addition, we have a policy of notifying a user when we receive a legal request for information related to their Evernote account, except in very limited circumstances, as explained on our Information for Authorities page.
1This includes federal agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as state or local law enforcement entities.
2Currently, the US government does not permit us to disclose the exact number of national security requests received, nor are we permitted to distinguish the number of National Security Letters (NSLs) received from other types of national security information requests (such as search warrants pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), unless we do so in bands of 1000. We think this restriction decreases transparency and especially harms companies like us that receive no or very few national security requests. If we want to report in smaller bands, we are required to group all types of national security requests together in a range from 0 to 250 as we have done above. We strongly support efforts calling for greater transparency regarding such national security requests.
