Transparency Report mailbox.org 2019

Today we publish our transparency report of 2019, in which we account for all requests for information that we as a provider have received by the authorities last year.

Requests sent to mailbox.org in the year 2019
Total number of requests: 79
From German authorities: 72
From foreign authorities: 7 (EU+Switzerland)

Organisations
Criminal investigative authorities: 79
Customs authorities: 0
Intelligence services: 0

Request type
Contact data requests: 74
Inbox confiscations: 0
Traffic data requests: 2
Telecommunications interceptions: 3

The overall number of requests we received in 2019 has increased slightly when compared to the previous year. A total of 26 requests were found to contain flaws or be unlawful for other reasons – those requests were consequentially rejected. Of all unlawful requests, 22 were subsequently re-submitted with their formal issues remedied, and then processed. Four requests were ultimately rejected.

While more and more German authorities e-mail us to request information, their awareness of the related security and data protection needs is still quite low. For example, almost all e-mail requests we received were sent across the Web unencrypted, which is unlawful in this country. Only three of the authorities managed to send their requests encrypted and in accordance with the rules.

The second reason why we rejected some requests for information was the non-identification of a legal basis for the request, or the putting forward of a legal basis that was not applicable or insufficient. Only a single out of the total seven requests we received from foreign organizations also contained the required rogatory letters. The remaining six requests were rejected as there was no legal basis for those requests.