Government requests for user information double over three years
In a year in which government surveillance has dominated the headlines, today we're updating our Transparency Report for the eighth time. Since we began sharing these figures with you in 2010, requests from governments …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google had already flagged rising government requests in 2012, while its January 2013 report detailed the process governments must use to seek personal information. The eighth report turns those earlier snapshots into a three-year trajectory, making the issue one of sustained demand rather than a single-period increase.
First-order effects
- Google users gain a clearer record of the scale at which governments are seeking account information, while Google makes its handling of those demands more visible through its recurring report.
Second-order effects
- Other internet companies face greater pressure to publish comparable request and compliance data, since Google has established a repeated public benchmark for disclosure.
Third-order effects
- If providers continue reporting requests in comparable intervals, transparency reports become part of the accountability infrastructure around government access to online data, even when the underlying requests are not public.
The trend: Government access to internet-user data is becoming a recurring transparency and accountability issue for major online platforms.