Google sees jump in government 'takedown' requests
Google sees jump in government 'takedown' requests
AFP – December 19, 2013
Washington (AFP) - Google said Thursday it saw a big jump
in early 2013 in the number of requests from governments around the world to
remove online content, in many cases for political reasons.
In an update to its "transparency report" for
the first half of the year, Google said it saw a 68 percent jump in the number
of requests from the prior six-month period, led by big increases from Turkey
and Russia.
The updated report "is certainly not a comprehensive
view of censorship online (but) it does demonstrate a worrying upward trend in
the number of government requests, and underscores the importance of
transparency around the processes governing such requests," said Google
legal director Susan Infantino in a blog post.
"As we continue to add data, we hope it will become
increasingly useful and informative in policy debates and decisions around the
world."
From January to June 2013, Google said received 3,846
government requests to remove 24,737 pieces of content.
"Over the past four years, one worrying trend has
remained consistent: governments continue to ask us to remove political
content," Infantino said.
"Judges have asked us to remove information that's
critical of them, police departments want us to take down videos or blogs that
shine a light on their conduct, and local institutions like town councils don't
want people to be able to find information about their decision-making
processes."
She said officials "often cite defamation, privacy
and even copyright laws in attempts to remove political speech from our
services."
Overall, Google said it removed content in 36 percent of
cases, including 54 percent in response to court orders.
In Turkey, the number of content removal requests rose by
966 percent, Google said.
That included a court order to remove search results
linking to information about a political official and sex scandals -- which
Google did not remove. Google also ignored requests from a Turkish government
agency to remove a blog that contained information about the Kurdish party and
Kurdish activists as well as a Google+ profile picture showing a map of
Kurdistan.
In Russia, the number of requests rose 125 percent. That
included 235 requests to remove content violating a Russian Internet
restriction law, of which Google removed 115 items
In the United States, Google received 27 requests from a
federal government agency to suspend 89 apps from the Google Play store that
allegedly infringed on trademarks, and removed 76 of the apps.
Google received a request in Argentina to remove a Google
"autocomplete" search entry linking a politician's name with an
illicit drug, but did not comply.
In Cyprus, Google got a request to remove names of
disputed territories in a map, but refused to comply.
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