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Twice a year, Google releases a report detailing government inquiries for private user data. Google says this report provides two functions. First, to be as transparent as you can about the requests those are and are not fulfilled for and by the government. Second, it is a way to prove that the laws that govern digital privacy have to be reformed. Source for this article: Government requests for user data on the rise, says Google


Take a look at the numbers

The Google Transparency Report figures show that the U.S. Government put in a ton of requests. On 11,057 accounts, the U.S. Government put in 5,950 inquiries for private user information. Compared to the second half of last year, this is a rise of 4,600 inquiries, 29 percent. Google complied with the majority of the inquiries “wholly or partially.” About 93 percent of requests were complied with. There were also 92 inquiries for data removal covering 757 bits of content. Google complied with 63 percent of these. That is a fantastic number. From the Mexican government, there were 48 information inquiries for 73 accounts and there were 50 data inquiries over 75 accounts from the Canadian government. The full Google Transparency Report page could be found with a full accounting of government requests.


Google is complying

Anything a government finds offensive or has to do with law enforcement investigations’ personal information is typically asked to be taken down by Google. Google, as a matter of policy, complies with all inquiries that are executed legally and within the bounds of the Google Terms of Service. Countries are all handled differently. There's a standard procedure for all of them. The type of request is not released by Google. Still, some other companies do release this information. Verizon Wireless gets 90,000 information requests annually. Of those, 65,000 are court-ordered, warranted requests while the others are emergency inquiries.


Is it an old regulation?

In 1986, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act was passed. This 25-year-old regulation still regulates all government access to confidential electronic communications and information. The ECPA allows the government to request certain electronic communications for the purposes of law enforcement. The Act has also been interpreted to shield the privacy of users. The status of e-mail messages is questionable. The Supreme Court will need to decide eventually. Several groups have asked for an update or re-writing of the law, such as the Digital Frontier Foundation.


Citations

The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Hor ... lationship

CNet: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-201254 ... than-ever/

Official Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/ ... round.html

The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... sfeed=true

Tech News World: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/73598.html

US Code, Electronic Communications Privacy Act: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin ... ;TYPE=TEXT