One week ago we wrote about a new piece of software called Coinbase received 1,900 requests from law enforcement for user information from their site. Since then, Coinbase has continued to receive these requests from various law enforcement agencies in different states, and some from countries that are not familiar with the company. Today, they revealed that they will be releasing the user information that they receive in the request to users in the future.
According to Coinapult, one of the largest exchanges in the world, law enforcement agencies received over one million requests for user information in a single year. The company stated that it had to upgrade its servers, which resulted in the increase in user requests, so it decided to release this information to the general public in the hopes that users will report the problem to authorities.
The data that law enforcement agencies can access on Coinbase is limited, but they are asking for any and all information they can get. The law does not allow them to release personal information, however, they are asking for basic details, such as name, address, phone number, IP address, email address and other contact information. As we have reported, Coinbase plans to release more information about this issue at a later date.
While many law enforcement agencies are concerned with how the data that is provided to them will be used, Coinbase has received a number of requests from companies that use the data for internal purposes as well. Law enforcement agencies may be required to submit a warrant in order to obtain user information from an exchange. As a result, this data will never be available for the general public.
Some people believe that law enforcement should be permitted to access this information and use it if they need to. There is no clear-cut answer in this regard, but the company states that they are only looking to be transparent with their users and not give up this type of information to law enforcement. They also suggest that users avoid using the same transaction information they use to make payments on other online sites.
In the end, Coinapult has released their transparency report to the general public and will continue to receive requests from law enforcement agencies to provide user information. They hope that by providing this data to users in the future, they can begin to put an end to the controversy surrounding this issue and put an end to the fear of being compelled to hand over information that could be used against them.