BBC News, 23
January 2013
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Stories
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| The data requests data included figures for the firm's YouTube video clip service |
The search
giant said it had received 21,389 applications from government officers and the
courts over the last six months of 2012.
That is 17%
up on the same period the previous year, and 71% more than 2009's corresponding
months.
The figures
include requests related to its YouTube video service.
Google said
it handed over at least some data in 66% of the most recent cases.
The number
of requests has risen over every half-year cycle since Google started
publishing details three years ago.
Privacy
concerns
The US made
more requests than any other country with 8,438 submissions. Google complied
fully or partially with 88% of these.
That was a
higher percentage than for any other country, but still the lowest ever
reported handover rate for the US.
By contrast
all of Turkey's 149 requests and Hungary's 95 applications were rejected
outright.
The UK made
1,458 requests - a very slight rise on the same period in 2011. 70% of them
resulted in some information being provided.
One
UK-based privacy advocacy group praised Google for releasing the data, but said
it also served as a warning to individuals to be careful about the information
they passed on to any online business.
"The
information we hand over to companies like Google paints a detailed picture of
who we are - from our political and religious views to our friendships,
associations and locations," said Privacy International's head of
international advocacy, Carly Nyst.
"This
information therefore merits the highest degree of privacy and security, and should
only be accessed by third parties under exceptional circumstances.
"Governments
must stop treating the user data held by corporations as a treasure trove of
information they can mine whenever they please, with little or no judicial
authorisation."
Google said
it would publish details of removal requests at a later time.
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