Google has released its Transparency Report. According to the report, Times of India reported that "When population sizes are taken into account, the figure puts Britain second in a table of 26 developed countries. Singapore, which has been condemned by human rights groups for its authoritarian regime, topped the table while Australia came third with 345 requests and France came fourth with 1,021 requests."
Given that we were colonised by the English, it sure looks like we have topped our colonial masters in some ways.
In its FAQs, Google explained that compliance depends in part on the nature and specificity of the request. “Some requests may not specific enough for us to know what the government wanted us to remove (for example, no URL is listed in the request),” said the search engine. “Others involve allegations of defamation through informal letters from government agencies rather than court orders. We generally rely on courts to decide if a statement is defamatory according to local law.”
While Singapore had less than 10 Content Removal requests from Jan to Dec 2010 (the requests appear to be made from Jul to Dec 2010), Singapore made 106 User Data Requests from Jan to June 2010 of which none were complied by Google.
Interestingly, the report seems to indicate that the Google complied with none of the requests made in the first half of 2010. From Jul to Dec 2010, Singapore made 118 User Data Requests of which 88% were complied with. Looking at the percentages of data requests that were complied to partially or fully by Google, the United States of America tops the lists with 94% partial or full compliance with Japan coming in second with 90% out of 72 requests. Singapore is third on this list. Australia comes in fourth with 81% out of 345 requests.
It does leaves one to wonder if the compliance percentages were an immediate reflection of free speech or a reflection of how hard the governments pushed their cases.
Related articles:
- Google: Transparency Report
- Times of India: Google reveals who tops in web snooping
- The Telegraph: Google report reveals British government web snooping
- Wall Street Journal: India Often Asks Google to Snoop
Given that we were colonised by the English, it sure looks like we have topped our colonial masters in some ways.
In its FAQs, Google explained that compliance depends in part on the nature and specificity of the request. “Some requests may not specific enough for us to know what the government wanted us to remove (for example, no URL is listed in the request),” said the search engine. “Others involve allegations of defamation through informal letters from government agencies rather than court orders. We generally rely on courts to decide if a statement is defamatory according to local law.”
While Singapore had less than 10 Content Removal requests from Jan to Dec 2010 (the requests appear to be made from Jul to Dec 2010), Singapore made 106 User Data Requests from Jan to June 2010 of which none were complied by Google.
Interestingly, the report seems to indicate that the Google complied with none of the requests made in the first half of 2010. From Jul to Dec 2010, Singapore made 118 User Data Requests of which 88% were complied with. Looking at the percentages of data requests that were complied to partially or fully by Google, the United States of America tops the lists with 94% partial or full compliance with Japan coming in second with 90% out of 72 requests. Singapore is third on this list. Australia comes in fourth with 81% out of 345 requests.
It does leaves one to wonder if the compliance percentages were an immediate reflection of free speech or a reflection of how hard the governments pushed their cases.
Related articles:
- Google: Transparency Report
- Times of India: Google reveals who tops in web snooping
- The Telegraph: Google report reveals British government web snooping
- Wall Street Journal: India Often Asks Google to Snoop
