To resolve a dispute that began last year after former government contractor Edward J. Snowden revealed that F.B.I. and National Security Agency surveillance programs rely heavily on data from U.S. email providers, video chat services, and social networking companies, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has agreed to permit communications providers to make more detailed disclosures about the number of national security orders and requests they received and the number of customer accounts targeted under those orders and requests. In return, the firms that filed the lawsuits against the government in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court seeking the ability to publish more information about the requests (Google, Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo, Inc., Facebook, Inc., and LinkedIn Corp.) agreed to seek dismissal of the lawsuits with prejudice.