Verizon Gave Up Hundreds of Phone Records

Verizon gave consumer phone records to the feds without court orders more than 700 times in the past 2 years, the telecom giant has told House investigators. In response to emergency requests, the company also passed along IP addresses, shedding light on the scope of telecom companies' cooperation with federal investigators whether or not they had warrants, the Washington Post reports.

Verizon said it complies with government requests without court orders because to do so would slow lawful efforts to save lives.The firm also disclosed that the FBI requested info on "communities of interest"—records on who a suspect calls and who those people in turn call—although Verizon does not keep such records. (More Verizon stories.)