 "Google releases latest Transparency Report")
The numbers from Google’s latest Transparency Report are here. In its report, Google sheds light on factors like the number of requests for user data and content removal it receives each year from both copyright owners and the governments of the world.
In India, between the period January to June 2012, i.e. the first half of the last year, Google received 2,319 user data requests, and this number rose to 2,431 in the next half of 2012. As for the number of user accounts associated with such requests, they increased from 3,467 in the first half of 2012 to 4,106 in the latter half of the year. Further, in its newest report, Google highlights that following a court order, it removed 360 search results. These results were linked to 360 web pages that contained adult videos that allegedly violated an individual’s personal privacy. In the latter half of 2012, Google received a total of 8,438 user data requests from the US – the number is inclusive of 1,896 search warrants, 5,784 Subpeona and 758 others. In the first half of the year, that number stood at 7,969.
Newest report out
Google adds that it received five requests and one court order to remove seven YouTube videos for criticising local and state government agencies, law enforcement or public officials. Google, however, did not remove content in response to these requests. Google received a court order to remove 1,754 posts from Google Groups relating to a case of continuous defamation against a man and his family and it removed 1,664 of the posts, which fell within the scope of the order.
Google also received three court orders to remove 641 search results for linking to websites that allegedly defame organisations and individuals. It then removed 233 of the search results requested, which fell within the scope of the orders.
In response to a court order, Google removed 156 search results because the web pages in question used a trademark in violation of an earlier order. The number of content removal requests Google received increased by 46 percent compared to the previous reporting period.
Moving further, Google says it received 15,104,188 copyright URL removal requests in the past month.
Between January to June 2012, Google received four court orders pertaining to content on YouTube, two of which pertained to defamation, while the other two were termed as a religious offense. In the same period, for YouTube, Google received 91 content removal requests under heads like Copyright, Privacy and Security, Impersonation, Defamation, National Security, Religious Offense, Hate Speech and Others. It received requests for Google Images, Blogger, Web Search, Orkut and Picasa too.
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