Google says FBI watching the Web

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Google says the FBI is monitoring the Web for potential terrorist activity. But it can't say how extensive the surveillance is.

As part of the Google Transparency Report, the Internet giant this week released data on so-called National Security Letters - official requests for data under the Patriot Act passed after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

But Google said it was only allowed to provide broad ranges of numbers: in the years from 2009 to 2012, for example, it received between zero and 999 requests.

The requests affected between 1,000 and 1,999 accounts, except in 2010 when the range was 2,000 to 2,999 accounts, Google said.