Unidentified foreign governments are surveilling mobile phone users through push notifications, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said.

Wyden, a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence member, sent a letter to the Department of Justice on Wednesday inquiring about how foreign officials sought data from Google and Apple for surveillance purposes. He also briefly mentioned that phone notifications, or the interface alerts on a phone's front screen, were used to spy on users. Wyden claimed that phones running on Android and iOS would have records of what notifications a user might receive, offering insight into users' everyday lives, and that government officials have requested this data.

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Push notification practices place Apple and Google "in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users are using particular apps," Wyden wrote. He urged the DOJ to "repeal or modify any policies" that hindered discussion of push notification spying.

Wyden was informed of this practice through a "tip" but did not identify which foreign governments might have used it. Foreign and federal government agencies have previously asked for metadata related to push notifications in hopes of tying anonymous accounts to specific Apple or Google accounts, according to Reuters.

Apple quickly responded by saying that Wyden's letter may open a chance for them to be more transparent about the practice.

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"In this case, the federal government prohibited us from sharing any information," Apple said in a statement. "Now that this method has become public, we are updating our transparency reporting to detail these kinds of requests."

Google and the DOJ did not respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.