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created 11 months ago | Tagged: |
Locke!
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In the second half of 2011, Google received 6,321 requests that it hand over its users’ private data to U.S. government agencies including law enforcement, and complied at least partially with those requests in 93% of cases, according to the latest update to the company’s bi-annual Transparency Report that it planned to release Sunday night.
That’s up from 5,950 requests in the first half of 2011, and marks a 37% increase in the number of requests over the second half of 2010, when Google received only 4,601 government requests and complied to some degree with 94% of them. And compared with the 3,580 requests for its data it received from U.S. agencies in the second half of 2009, the first time Google released the request numbers, the latest figures represent a 76% spike. The report’s statistics, which Google voluntarily releases, show a steady uptick in government demand for the private information held by the world’s biggest Internet firm. The numbers may also point to similar increases in requests for other Internet companies to hand over their users’ private data; Google admirably distinguishes itself as the only major Internet company to publicly state how many times agencies have asked for its information; Whether firms like Facebook, Microsoft, Comcast, AT&T and others have seen a parallel rise in requests can’t be determined.
