Transparency Report

Requests for user information

Just like many other technology companies, Nest may get requests or orders from governments and courts around the world to hand over user data. We made this page to shed some light on these requests and how we process and handle them.

When we get a request for user information, we review it carefully and only provide information within the scope and authority of the request. Privacy and security are incredibly important to us. Before complying with a request, we make sure it follows the law and Nest’s policies. We notify users about legal demands when appropriate, unless prohibited by law or court order. And if we think a request is overly broad, we’ll seek to narrow it. For example, if a US government agency presented us with a search warrant to investigate a crime they think was captured on a Nest Cam, we wouldn’t just hand over user data. We’d analyze the request to be sure the warrant wasn’t overly broad, then we’d make sure the information they requested was within the scope of the warrant.

We continue to look for new ways to organize information and provide more detail. For example, starting with the July–December 2015 reporting period, we began to disclose the number of users or accounts about which data was requested and the percentages of user data requests we comply with in whole or in part.

We have never received any National Security Letters or orders for user content or non-content information under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).