Google says requests for users data from governments across the world have gone up by 100 percent since 2010.
Google’s latest Transparency Report reveals the Indian government had sent out a total 2,691 requests to access users information, out of which about 64% were fulfilled. In terms of number of data requests, India is only next to the United States, which had made 10,918 requests of which 83 per cent where fulfilled. This is the eighth time Google has updated its transparency report.
Richard Salgado, Google’s Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security in a blog post said requests from governments for user information have gone up by more than 100 percent since 2010.
“This comes as usage of our services continues to grow, but also as more governments have made requests than ever before. And these numbers only include the requests we’re allowed to publish,” he writes.
Google says the latest data includes additional information about legal process for U.S. criminal requests: breaking out emergency disclosures, wiretap orders, pen register orders and other court orders. Google highlights it was not allowed by the local government to publish details bout national security-related requests. The company, however, promises to make the report more ‘robust’ for more accurate data.
Google’s initiative to bring more transparency in the Internet world has inspired other Internet giants such as Twitter, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook to release their own data on government requests for snooping.
The recent report from Yahoo revealed it received a maximum of 12,444 requests from the U.S. government. Germany followed with 4,295 requests. India is also in the list with 1,490 data requests.
