Google announces record number of government requests for user data

The newly adopted European Union-United States Privacy Shield agreement exposes a contradictory flaw in the nature of the hyper-connected data-intense world we live in—privacy requires transparency. This comes in light of Google’s latest Transparency Report, which announced a record number of user data requests from global enforcement agencies during the latter half of 2015. Google hopes its reports will help shed light on government surveillance laws and practices around the world. 

As governments and courts around the world put increasing pressure on technology and communications companies to forfeit consumer information and data, the public is calling for increased privacy and regulation over Big Brother’s watchful eye. The EU-US Privacy Shield agreement was put into effect to govern the transfer of data between Europe and the United States after a landmark EU ruling invalidated the longstanding Safe Harbor transfer deal amid concerns of inadequate US privacy protections and improper surveillance practices. The new agreement provides a robust framework for the transatlantic data flow that major tech companies and other industries rely upon to carry business across the continents. Shield places safeguards on how US authorities can access the data of European customers, and creates a plan for resolving disputes concerning possible misuse of personal data.

Google is taking a preemptive strike at the data privacy debate by releasing the record number of government requests for user data—40,677 to be exact—petitioned during the second half of 2015. 64% of the inquiries yielded some data. The number of government inquiries was up from 35,365 requests in the first half of the year, and 30,140 requests made in the last six months of 2014.

The US leads the proverbial watchdog pack with 12,523 data requests on 27,157 users, followed by Germany with 7,491 requests, France with 4,174, and the UK with 3,497. Google provided some information in 79% of cases. 

In the wake of increasing importance regarding matters of security and privacy, several tech companies including Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon have chosen to issue regular transparency reports, disclosing various statistics related to requests of user data, records, or content by the government. 

“Google is proud to have led the charge on publishing these reports, helping shed light on government surveillance laws and practices around the world,” said Legal Director Richard Salgado. As usage of Google’s services increase annually, so have user data request numbers. While Google is pleased with “some of the improvements” in surveillance laws, the company hopes the Privacy Shield agreement is the first of many steps the US can take to ensure the privacy interests of US and non-US persons alike. 

Sources: PCMag , Google 1 , Google 2 , The Verge