You may remember last month when it was revealed that Yahoo fought against PRISM and lost in 2008. The leaked FISA document that revealed this information was heavily redacted, however, so it didn’t give us the whole picture. Now Yahoo has won the chance to show us almost everything.
The Daily Dot reports that Yahoo has won a request it made before the FISA court regarding the classified documents from 2008 that detail its fight against PRISM. The Department of Justice must now publish those documents within the next two weeks. Unfortunately, the Justice Department can still redact parts of the document that it feels may jeopardize national security.
Still, it’s a big win for those who want to know more about the FISA court and how it operates. Some information may be redacted, but it should still be our best look yet at how the government uses the secret court to obtain data from tech companies. The documents may also reveal more information regarding PRISM and other government surveillance programs, but those details will most likely be heavily redacted.
It’s also a big win for Yahoo as the company is currently suffering from a negative brand image. It certainly didn’t help matters in June when a series of leaks from Edward Snowden revealed that Yahoo participated in PRISM by handing over user data to the NSA. With this win, Yahoo will be seen by some as one of the good guys fighting for transparency.
It still probably won’t help improve their image among the many users who are angry over how it’s handled its email service recently though.