LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals, has asked a secret court to allow it to disclose the number of national security orders the company has received under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
On Wednesday, LinkedIn joined four other companies that have similar cases pending before the FISA Court. The other four are Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook.
Among other reasons, LinkedIn said it wanted to disclose the information to address its members' concerns about the privacy and security of their data.
The company said negotiations with the FBI on the issue have reached an impasse.
LinkedIn argued in its motion that it has a First Amendment right to report the data. The company asked the FISA Court to hold public oral arguments on its motion.