Mobile carrier AT&T released its first transparency report as the topic of consumer privacy increased during the last year.

According to AT&T, it takes responsibility to protect their consumers' information and privacy "very seriously" and have pledged to do so to the "fullest extent possible" in compliance with laws where the mobile carrier provides its service.

"Like all companies, we must provide information to government and law enforcement agencies to comply with court orders, subpoenas, lawful discovery requests and other legal requirements," noted AT&T. "We ensure that these requests are valid and that our responses comply with the law and our own policies."

The mobile carrier's first transparency report provides information for all of 2013 regarding the numbers and types of demands from law enforcement. AT&T did not that some information would not be disclosed due to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Interest in this topic has increased in the last year," AT&T stated. "As you might expect, we may make adjustments to our reporting processes and create ways to track forms of demands in the future. We're committed to providing you with as much transparency and accuracy in this reporting as is possible."

In regards to demands on national security levels, AT&T revealed some information from the National Security Letters (NSL) and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

The NSLs are subpoenas issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the basis of counterintelligence and counterterrorism. The NSL subpoenas are only supposed to reveal a consumer's list of phone numbers dialed or subscriber information.

For FISA, communication providers such as AT&T are responsible to respond to government requests for both content and non-content data when national security investigations are ongoing.

AT&T could not provide specific numbers on FISA or NSL demands received but offered a ranged figure. For NSLs, AT&T received between 2,000 and 2,999 letters for 4,000 to 4,999 customer accounts. FISA demanded AT&T consumer information from between 35,000 and 35,999 customer accounts based on content.

AT&T did provide specific numbers when it came to total U.S. criminal and civil litigation demands, which stood at 301,816 for 2013.

"We determine whether we have received the correct type of demand (such as a subpoena, court order or search warrant) based on federal, state or local laws and what information is being sought," AT&T stated. "For instance, in some states we must supply call detail records if we receive a subpoena. In other states, call detail records require a court order or search warrant. Regardless of jurisdiction, we require a court order or search warrant for real-time information, stored content such as text and voice messages, and all location requests by law enforcement."

Of the aforementioned demands, 248,343 were subpoenas -- both criminal and civil. The mobile carrier received 36,788 court orders and 16,685 search warrants. For the search warrants, 5,690 demands were for stored content. According to AT&T, it provided partial or no data to 17,463 accounts.

Law enforcement requests are at times ordered due to emergency situations. Known as Emergency Requests, AT&T responded to 911-related inquiries and "exigent requests."

"These are emergency requests from law enforcement working on kidnappings, missing person cases, attempted suicides and other emergencies," noted AT&T.

AT&T confirmed it received 94,304 emergency requests, of which 74,688 were 911 related and 19,616 as exigent.

__

For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO