Google reports 'alarming' rise in government censorship requests
40 replies, posted
Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/tech/web/google-transparency-report/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5[/url]
[quote]
Western governments, including the United States, appear to be stepping up efforts to censor Internet search results and YouTube videos, according to a "transparency report" released by Google.
"It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect -- Western democracies not typically associated with censorship," Dorothy Chou, a senior policy analyst at Google, wrote in a blog post on Sunday night.
"For example, in the second half of last year, Spanish regulators asked us to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors. In Poland, we received a request from a public institution to remove links to a site that criticized it. We didn't comply with either of these requests."
In the last half of 2011, U.S. agencies asked Google to remove 6,192 individual pieces of content from its search results, blog posts or archives of online videos, according to the report. That's up 718% compared with the 757 such items that U.S. agencies asked Google to remove in the six months prior.
Overall, Google received 187 requests from United States law enforcement agencies and courts to remove content from its Web properties from July to December, up 103% from the 92 requests the Mountain View, California, company received in the previous reporting period.
In one incident cited in the report, a U.S. law enforcement agency asked Google to take down a blog that "allegedly defamed a law enforcement official in a personal capacity." The company did not comply with that request.
In another, a separate law enforcement group asked Google to take down 1,400 YouTube videos (Google owns YouTube) because of "alleged harassment."
And in Canada, the passport office asked Google to delete a YouTube video "of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet," according to the report.
The tech company did not oblige either of those requests but did comply at least in part with 42% of the removal requests from the United States in the last half of 2011, the report says. That number is down considerably compared to previous reports; In the latter half of 2010, for example, Google said it complied with 87% of U.S. requests to remove content.
The biannual transparency report, which includes data to July 2009, also indicates a rise in world governments' requests to take a look at the data Google collects about its users. And with those requests, Google tended to be much more likely to comply.
In the last half of 2011, Google received 6,321 requests for user data from government agencies in the United States and complied at least in part with 93% of them, according to data released in the report.
Those requests for information about Google users come as part of criminal investigations, Google says, and are not unique to the company.
Google complied more frequently with U.S.-based requests for information about users than with requests from other countries, according to the report. It complied or partially complied with only 24% of such requests from Canada, 44% from France and 64% from the United Kingdom, for example.
The number of user data requests Google received from the United States was up 6% over the previous six-month period and 37% compared with the last half of 2010.
Google says this increase "isn't surprising, since each year we offer more products and services, and we have a larger number of users." In the report, the company adds: "We review each request to make sure that it complies with both the spirit and the letter of the law, and we may refuse to produce information or try to narrow the request in some cases."
Writing at Forbes.com, tech columnist Andy Greenberg says that Google "should be applauded for taking a strong stand against censorship" but that "the government's increasingly sticky fingers in Google's databases comes at a sensitive time."
"Google has been criticized for failing to reveal much about its reported partnership with the National Security Agency following a Chinese attack on its systems in 2010," he writes. "And the company has yet to take a stand on the House's recently-passed Cyber Infrastructure Security and Protection Act or its equivalents in the Senate, which are designed to give companies far more leeway to hand data over to government agencies for security purposes."
At Politico, blogger Dylan Byers says the report "will certainly challenge any notions you might have about a free and unregulated Web."
Google says it hopes the data will offer a "small window into what's happening on the Web at large."
[/quote]
Fucking government assholes.
Gotta say though, google's doing quite a nice job with all this transparency.
[QUOTE=Lizzrd;36398228]Gotta say though, google's doing quite a nice job with all this transparency.[/QUOTE]
That is why Google is amazing.
I swera I saw an article just the same like half a year ago.
[quote] "It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect -- Western democracies not typically associated with censorship," [/quote]
I don't know why you wouldn't suspect western nations of trying to bring the hammer down. Their track record when it comes to censorship is hardly golden. Sure when it comes to it they're better than say, China, but that doesn't mean much, especially when it comes to limiting freedom (whether it be of expression, information or communication).
[QUOTE=Killuah;36398345]I swera I saw an article just the same like half a year ago.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]The biannual transparency report[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=The golden;36398487]We know what's happening to the web. Governments are trying to shut it down so they can gain control over the flow of information.
The whole "electing a dictator" form of government is really starting to get old...[/QUOTE]
In other words. It seems to be drawing up for a giant storm of real life Metal Gear Solid 2.
[QUOTE=The golden;36398487]We know what's happening to the web. Governments are trying to shut it down so they can gain control over the flow of information.
The whole "electing a dictator" form of government is really starting to get old...[/QUOTE]
It's not even really electing anymore. I'm really starting to feel like no matter who gets voted in, it's still going to be basically the same person with the same agenda.
[QUOTE=SteelReal;36400034]It's not even really electing anymore. I'm really starting to feel like no matter who gets voted in, it's still going to be basically the same person with the same agenda.[/QUOTE]
You just realised this? Democracy is really just an illusion anyway, considering it's still a few suits in the Senate and such which will pass things which affect the billions, such as acts such as SOPA and ACTA, a few hundreds would pass that which would affect millions, if not billions.
[QUOTE=Kendra;36403144]You just realised this? Democracy is really just an illusion anyway, considering it's still a few suits in the Senate and such which will pass things which affect the billions, such as acts such as SOPA and ACTA, a few hundreds would pass that which would affect millions, if not billions.[/QUOTE]
I try to be optimistic.
Google should simply refuse to grant any of these requests. Let Congress try to take over Google and see how fast they all get thrown out of office.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;36403979]Google should simply refuse to grant any of these requests. Let Congress try to take over Google and see how fast they all get thrown out of office.[/QUOTE]
Sorry, this is real life, and the government has more power than Google. Google can't just say "lolno" and get away with everything if the United States Government is knocking on its (U.S. based) door.
philosophical fact of the day: dictator ship is nice, assuming your great leader isn't an egocentrical asshole.
[QUOTE=Radley;36404179]philosophical fact of the day: dictator ship is nice, assuming your great leader isn't an egocentrical asshole.[/QUOTE]
Not exactly a fact, more of an opinion. I'd hate a dictatorship regardless of the leader.
I salute google for their honesty.
[QUOTE=Boba_Fett;36404319]Not exactly a fact, more of an opinion. I'd hate a dictatorship regardless of the leader.[/QUOTE]
I don't mean to derail but say by some form of miracle you got a dictator that was nice you wouldn't like it? Things could happen faster since they bypass the whole democracy thing.
[QUOTE=JCDentonUNATCO;36404112]Sorry, this is real life, and the government has more power than Google. Google can't just say "lolno" and get away with everything if the United States Government is knocking on its (U.S. based) door.[/QUOTE]
Sure they can, SOPA/CISPA/etc has not been passed. Google can tell them to fuck themselves all they want. Unless the data is illegal, Google can tell them to cram it up their big gaping vaginas.
[QUOTE=toaster468;36404485]I don't mean to derail but say by some form of miracle you got a dictator that was nice you wouldn't like it? Things could happen faster since they bypass the whole democracy thing.[/QUOTE]
The problem is will this dictator live forever?
If not, somebody is going to replace him. That somebody could be a total asshole.
I love how Google is transparent about this.
Will government ever take a hint?
[QUOTE=JustExtreme;36404567]Will government ever take a hint?[/QUOTE]
No, they won't.
[QUOTE=Boxbot219;36404565]The problem is will this dictator live forever?
If not, somebody is going to replace him. That somebody could be a total asshole.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, cause it's not like governements change with time either.
[QUOTE=toaster468;36404485]I don't mean to derail but say by some form of miracle you got a dictator that was nice you wouldn't like it? Things could happen faster since they bypass the whole democracy thing.[/QUOTE]
He would only be nice to a specific group. Even inadvertedly, he'd end up making more peoples lives shitty than good. If everything has to go through him, everything's going to be limited through his opinions. Imagine a forced dose of any drug every day because he does it recreationally and wants everyone to see the light. Imagine if he forces you to obey a certain religious or philosophical valur that is in contrast to your personality, simply because he finds it to be infallible and wants everyone to see that.
Dictatorship means dictating your actions. "do what you want" isn't an option in the long run. Some day, someone runs over his kids and everyone who's like him gets executed or whatever.
[QUOTE=The golden;36398487]We know what's happening to the web. Governments are trying to shut it down so they can gain control over the flow of information.
The whole "electing a dictator" form of government is really starting to get old...[/QUOTE]
Oh god... Metal Gear was right all along!
Its the Patriots!
[QUOTE=The golden;36405023]I don't think a government has every actually given a shit about its people. It just doesn't happen.
All power corrupts - and it usually does so within 10 minutes.[/QUOTE]
You're half-right. A government has never 100% represented the interests of its people, but you can still argue that there have been leaders in history that did rule on behalf of their people, rather than an individual few or an ethnicity. Augustus Caesar was the absolute ruler of the Roman Empire but his rule is generally marked by positive rulership without turning into a tyrant, and he laid the foundations of Western Civilization's greatest and arguably most influential empire.
And then you have what some people like to call "enlightened despots" like Fredrick the Great, Catherine the Great, Louis XIV, and Napoleon I, who ruled on many of the principles of the Enlightenment. Of course people can argue how much genuine humanitarian sentiment each of those individuals had, whether they ruled out of this sentiment or to further their own power---perhaps a combination of both. And none of those individuals were "pure" or people who could do no wrong.
But the point I'm trying to make is there have been some rulers who were in positions of one-man rule and still governed wisely and for the enrichment of the state and its people.
[QUOTE=JCDentonUNATCO;36404112]Sorry, this is real life, and the government has more power than Google. Google can't just say "lolno" and get away with everything if the United States Government is knocking on its (U.S. based) door.[/QUOTE]
Why not? It would force the government into trying to prosecute Google for not agreeing with their spying and censorship of Americans. Good luck getting public support for that move.
What are they going to do? Shut down Google? Manufacturer and supporter of a massively popular phone OS, social network, search engine, video service, and general backbone of the Internet?
[QUOTE=faze;36398172] in Canada, the passport office asked Google to delete a YouTube video "of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet,"[/QUOTE]
gotta love Canada
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;36406133]Why not? It would force the government into trying to prosecute Google for not agreeing with their spying and censorship of Americans. Good luck getting public support for that move.
What are they going to do? Shut down Google? Manufacturer and supporter of a massively popular phone OS, social network, search engine, video service, and general backbone of the Internet?[/QUOTE]
They won't shut Google down, but they will seize every asset, and seize all information by force, and then force Google into possible bankruptcy.
"They all suddenly started giving a shit!"
[QUOTE=Boba_Fett;36404319]Not exactly a fact, more of an opinion. I'd hate a dictatorship regardless of the leader.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't. I'd much prefer a leader who we couldn't get rid of thought he made all healthcare free and fair, had houses built so that no member of the population would be homeless, etc, etc, than an elected leader who's a complete and utter incompetent buffoon.
[QUOTE=The golden;36405023]I don't think a government has every actually given a shit about its people. It just doesn't happen.
All power corrupts - and it usually does so within 10 minutes.[/QUOTE]
Indeed, those in power just want to stay in power and continue to dominate those below them - anything positive they do in the process is purely luck.
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