Google stands up for Gmail users, requires cops to get a warrant
12 replies, posted
[quote="Ars Technica"]
The United States remains far ahead of all governments who request user information from Google, according to the company’s latest Transparency Report (July through December 2012) which was released on Wednesday.
American government agencies (including federal, state, and local authorities) made over 8,400 requests for nearly 15,000 accounts—far exceeding India, the next largest country in terms of information requests. In 88 percent of those queries, Google complied with at least some, if not all, of the requests.
For the first time, the search giant is also breaking down the type of legal requests that were made.
Google said that 22 percent of those requests were made under probable cause driven search warrants delivered via the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Authorities have also been known to request information using ECPA subpoenas, which are much easier to obtain. It's unclear how many of the subpoenas or warrants Google complied with—the company has only said it complied in part or in full to 88 percent of total requests from American authorities.
"In order to compel us to produce content in Gmail we require an ECPA search warrant," said Chris Gaither, Google spokesperson. "If they come for registration information, that's one thing, but if they ask for content of e-mail, that's another thing."
While relatively few tech companies publicly disclose how many government requests they get, Google appears to be one of the few e-mail providers that is challenging law enforcement agencies to produce a warrant to access users’ e-mail.
Beyond Google’s own convictions, the company can also take some comfort in the fact that in 2010 the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Fourth Amendment protecting unreasonable searches and seizures also protects e-mail, even if it’s over 180 days old, despite what ECPA says.[/quote]
Full article can be found [url="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/google-stands-up-for-gmail-users-requires-cops-to-get-a-warrant/"]here[/url].
It is good to know Google doesn't hand everything over when it receives a request.
Kind of a no brainer needing a warrant
[QUOTE=Aman VII;39350389]Kind of a no brainer needing a warrant[/QUOTE]
Did you read the article? They are pulling a 180 in there policy.
This is another reason why Google is one of my favorites
Google is probably my favorite company of all time. They have GMail, Android, YouTube, Blogger, Drive, and Docs. I'll admit Google Plus is probably one of their biggest mistakes along with the recent YouTube changes, but they have fucking everything and with great quality, too.
Yet they don't do anything about the copyright bullshit on YouTube? Have to say it is a bit of a turnaround from what seems to be typical policy.
[QUOTE=Tark;39350795]Yet they don't do anything about the copyright bullshit on YouTube? Have to say it is a bit of a turnaround from what seems to be typical policy.[/QUOTE]
Because the law allows them to require cops to get a warrent if they want too, Copyright on the otherhand the goverment can force the taken down of youtube if they don't bend over to copyright holders.
[QUOTE=SockFC;39350787]Google is probably my favorite company of all time. They have GMail, Android, YouTube, Blogger, Drive, and Docs. I'll admit Google Plus is probably one of their biggest mistakes along with the recent YouTube changes, but they have fucking everything and with great quality, too.[/QUOTE]
I don't see anything wrong with the youtube changes, I've actually liked some of them quite a bit. I think everyone just has massive knee jerk reactions to changes in interface, and then once people get used to them they do the same thing to the next version - but if you started off with the newer one you'd never want to go back to the old one.
[QUOTE=SockFC;39350787]Google is probably my favorite company of all time. They have GMail, Android, YouTube, Blogger, Drive, and Docs. I'll admit Google Plus is probably one of their biggest mistakes along with the recent YouTube changes, but they have fucking everything and with great quality, too.[/QUOTE]
In addition to the above post, I don't think Google+ was a mistake at all. How would you have made them do it differently? Uptake is slow because everyone's on Facebook now, but Facebook is actually starting to lose users in places where it's been popular the longest - US and UK, notably. Will Google+ be the replacement? Maybe or maybe not, but either way I still use it along with all my closest friends, mostly for Hangouts for free group video chat with up to 10 users. The community is still great though.
[QUOTE=mblunk;39351139]Will Google+ be the replacement? Maybe or maybe not[/QUOTE]
i hope so
Facebook needs to go, and I don't really expect Orkut to pick everyone up
As long as google keeps pushing G+ and integrating it in android and have good iOS apps, it'll eventually take over.
I'd use G+ if my friends were on it, but my friends aren't on it so whats the use of switching over? And my phone provider doesnt have G+ on the list of free sits that don't go towards my data usage
[QUOTE=SockFC;39350787]Google is probably my favorite company of all time. They have GMail, Android, YouTube, Blogger, Drive, and Docs. I'll admit Google Plus is probably one of their biggest mistakes along with the recent YouTube changes, but they have fucking everything and with great quality, too.[/QUOTE]
Didn't they just buy everything from other companies? Like, Youtube, Android... just take a look [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google"]this list[/URL], it's actually kinda scary if you think about it...
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