Last Updated: September 23, 2021
Introduction
At Snowflake, we are committed to maintaining the trust of our customers. As a part of this commitment, we believe that it is important to be transparent about law enforcement or other government agency requests (both U.S. and foreign) for information about our customers or data that Snowflake processes on behalf of our customers.
Types of Data Covered by this Transparency Report
- Content Data and Non-Content Data: This transparency report covers requests for the following types of data:
- Content data is data that Snowflake processes on behalf of our customers that they upload to our cloud data platform and any computational results derived from such data (e.g., results from running queries through our service).
- Non-content data is basic customer information (e.g., name, address, email address, billing creation, account creation date, etc.) and usage data that relates to the operation, performance and configuration of our service.
Types of Requests Covered by this Transparency Report
- Court Orders: An official document issued by a judge directing a person or entity to comply with the order. Court orders can cover non-content data.
- Foreign Government Requests: We require foreign governments making requests for content data or non-content data to comply with established legal mechanisms, such as Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) and Letters Rogatory.
- National Security Requests: These requests are National Security Letters (NSLs) and orders issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). NSLs are limited to requests covering non-content data. FISA orders can be used to cover requests for content data or non-content data.
- Search Warrants: An order issued by a judge or a magistrate, upon a showing of probable clause, that identifies the information requested. Search warrants can cover content data or non-content data.
- Subpoenas: A legal demand to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence. Subpoenas can cover non-content data.
How We Manage and Respond to Requests
Information on how we handle law enforcement and government requests can be found here.
Snowflake Law Enforcement Request Reports
January – June 2021 Report