Google Says Government User Info Requests Jump 120
Percent Since 2009
By Todd R. Weiss
| Posted 2014-03-30
The latest Google transparency report shows a surge in
the number of requests the company gets for user information from governments
worldwide.
Government requests for information about users in
criminal investigations have risen by more than 120 percent since 2009 when
Google began tallying such figures, according to the latest global transparency
report issued by the company.
"Though our number of users has grown throughout the
time period, we're also seeing more and more governments start to exercise their
authority to make requests," Richard Salgado, legal director of law
enforcement and information security at Google, wrote in a March 27 post on the
Google Official Blog.
"While we've always known how important transparency
is when it comes to government requests, the events of the past year have
underscored just how urgent the issue is," he wrote. "From being the
first company to disclose information about National Security Letters to
fighting for the ability to publish more about FISA [Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act] requests, we've continually advocated for your right to
know."
The latest Google transparency report, which is the ninth
such document issued by the company since it began publishing such statistics,
details the number of government requests that Google received for user
information in criminal investigations during the second half of 2013.
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According to the report, Google received 10,574 such requests
from the United States government during the period and provided at least some
information in 83 percent of those cases.
France made the second-highest number of requests in the
period—2,750—of which 51 percent were at least partially fulfilled.
Germany had the third-highest number of requests at
2,660, of which 40 percent were fulfilled.
The total number of requests for information for
governments around the world was 27,477, of which 64 percent were at least
partially granted, according to the report.
"We consistently push back against overly broad
requests for your personal information, but it's also important for laws to
explicitly protect you from government overreach," wrote Salgado.
"That's why we're working alongside eight other companies to push for
surveillance reform, including more transparency. We've all been sharing best
practices about how to report the requests we receive, and as a result, our
Transparency Report now includes governments that made less than 30 requests during
a six-month reporting period, in addition to those that made 30+
requests."
As part of the latest transparency report announcement,
Google has also created a video to explain how the company responds to search
warrants in the U.S., after hearing many requests for more information about
the process, wrote Salgado. "We apply the same rigorous standards
presented in this video to every request we receive, regardless of type."
Google publishes the reports to help users around the
world know when and how governments request user information online, he
explained.
The number of government requests has risen substantially
since January 2013, when Google announced it had experienced a more than 70
percent increase in requests from governments worldwide for information about
its users and their possible criminal activities, according to an earlier eWEEK
report. For the six-month period ending Dec. 31, 2012, Google received 21,389
government requests for information about 33,634 users—including 8,438
requests, involving 14,791 users, by the United States government.
Google has been compiling and releasing the reports since
2010 to keep the process transparent for users of its services so they can have
insights into what is done with the data stored by Google.
In February 2014, Google moved to ask Congress to update
the nation's privacy laws so that the government would have to seek warrants
when attempting to access user communications.
In early 2013, Google donated $3.7 million to two
organizations that are working to make government data more open, available and
transparent to citizens in the United States and around the world. Google.org
awarded $2.1 million to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, and
$1.6 million to mySociety, a U.K.-based group. The money was given to foster
the open availability of information so that people can be better informed.
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