Google's 'transparency report' doesn't reveal everything

January 26, 2013

Google's Transparency Reports, released every six months, are interesting not just for what they reveal about government requests for Internet user data, but also for what they do not reveal. Transparency reports are basically a biannual compilation of requests Google receives from governments around the world for Internet user data. The reports, which have been generally lauded by privacy experts, are an effort by Google to keep users informed about the data requests and how often it complies with them. The company's latest report, released last week, shows that the U.S. government again led other nations in submitting the most requests for user data with Google. In the second half of 2012, the U.S. put in 8438 requests for Internet user data, up 6 percent from the 7979 requests it placed in the first six months of the year. Between 2011 and 2012, U.S. data requests from Google increased by more than 30 percent. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236209/What_Google_s_Transparency_Report_doesn_t_tell_us?taxonomyId=17