Thursday, September 18, 2014

Google's latest transparency report: Law enforcement requests up 150% over five years

Google has released its most recent iteration of its transparency report. In a posting on the Google Public Policy Blog, Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security, writes that Google has seen a 15% increase in government data demands (excluding national security demands) since the second half of last year, and a 150% jump since Google's first report 2009. Breaking out U.S. demands, the numbers have risen 19% since the second half of last year and have leaped 250% since 2009.

The numbers for Canada have actually gone in the other direction. The previous transparency report included 52 demands for info on 73 users, compared to the most recent 27 demands related to 33 user accounts.

Consistent with Google's previous positions Salgado writes:

Governments have a legitimate and important role in fighting crime and investigating national security threats. To maintain public confidence in both government and technology, we need legislative reform that ensures surveillance powers are transparent, reasonably scoped by law, and subject to independent oversight.

Amen to that.

No comments: