Higher numbers of content removal requests from governments to Google

By EDRi · November 2, 2011

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Deutsch: [Google: Deutlich mehr Löschanfragen von Regierungen | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.21_Google_Deutlich_mehr_Loeschanfragen_von_Regierungen?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111110]

Macedonian: [Сè поголем број владини барања за отстранување содржини од Google | Сè поголем број владини барања за отстранување содржини од Google]

A Transparency Report issued by Google shows an increasing level of
government requests of private data and content takedown, during the period
January – June 2011.

It is the first time that Google reveals not only information on the number
of requests by governments, law enforcement agencies and courts for personal
data but also requests to takedown content that allegedly infringes rights
or breaks the law.

“All too often, policy that affects how information flows on the Internet is
created in the absence of empirical data. But by showing traffic patterns
and disruptions to our services, and by sharing how many government requests
for content removal and user data we receive from around the world, we hope
to offer up some metrics to contribute to a public conversation about the
laws that influence how people communicate online” stated Google regarding
its Transparency Report.

According to this report, governments around the world requested private
data on about 25 500 people, out of which 11 000 were US requests.
The number of the US requests was probably higher than the figures revealed
by the report considering the secret and classified ones for reasons of
national security.

While the UK government made requests based on privacy, inciting violence or
hate speech and “other” (which includes civil law cases and court orders),
which Google partially or fully complied with at a 82% rate, the German
government appears to be mostly concerned with extremism problems,
particularly relating to Nazi-related material posted on YouTube. Germany’s
takedown requests appear to have gone up by 38%, showing an increasing need
to control the online content posted by its citizens.

The report also notices an increase by over 25% (compared to the previous
reporting period) in user data requests especially from France and Spain.
Other European countries, such as Poland and Russia see their name appearing
on the list for the first time.

Turkish court orders and requests from the Telecommunications Communication
Presidency of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority to
remove YouTube videos and blogs are also indicated in the report. Blogger
was partially inaccessible in Turkey during this time period and Google
imposed restrictions on Turkish users from accessing YouTube videos that
appeared to violate local laws and removed the blogs for violating Blogger’s
Terms of Service.

Google has also released the raw data behind the requests to allow
developers and researchers to analyse it and corroborate it with
information from other organizations in order to establish hypotheses about
government online behaviours.

By revealing these figures, the report makes it obvious that governments
need to update their old legislation which has not kept pace with the
development of modern electronic technology.

More data, more transparency around government requests (25.10.2011)
http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2011/10/more-data-more-transparency-around.html

Google Transparency Report – January to June 2011
http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/governmentrequests/

Google: US law enforcement tried to get videos removed from YouTube
(25.10.2011)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/25/google-transparency-report-released

Google’s transparency report reveals sharp rise in takedown requests
(26.10.2011)
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/googles-transparency-report-reveals-sharp-rise-in-takedown-requests/193