Techtechnologygoogle transparency reportGoogle Transparency

Google Transparency Report Reveals More Government Snooping Than Ever

Google: Government Snooping Just Hit Record Levels.. Again
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By 

Deputy Managing Editor Of Impact & Innovation, The Huffington Post

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World governments keep asking Google to remove content, and Google keeps tattling on them. In its latest transparency report, released Thursday, Google writes that the number of requests from governments to remove online content has grown. Between July and December 2012, Google received 2,285 requests to remove online content, compared with only 1,811 requests during the first six months of 2012. These numbers have been steadily growing since 2010.


A graph of content removal requests from Google.

Many of the removal requests were made in reference to "Innocence of Muslims," an offensive film on YouTube that caused a huge upheaval in the Muslim world. Google explained the situation in its transparency report:

During this period, we received inquiries from 20 countries regarding YouTube videos containing clips of the movie “Innocence of Muslims." While the videos were within our Community Guidelines, we restricted videos from view in several countries in accordance with local law after receiving formal legal complaints. We also temporarily restricted videos from view in Egypt and Libya due to the particularly difficult circumstances there.

The outrage was so great that the Egyptian government decided to ban all of YouTube, not just the one video, for a period of time in February (which doesn't fall within the six months Google examined).

Google has been releasing these transparency reports for 3 years, in an effort to shed light on the way global governments attempt to restrict the Internet and the way Google deals with issues of censorship. Google recently updated its traffic page to include more information about country-specific disruptions to Google services.

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Before You Go

9 Gadgets To Help You Avoid Surveillance
Fingerprint Gel(01 of09)
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The Japanese government counter-terrorism practice of fingerprinting foreigners who enter the country may have inspired Doctor Tsutomu Matsumoto to invent "fingerprinting gels", a way of faking fingerprints for scanners.Learn how to make your own here. (credit:AP)
White Noise Generator(02 of09)
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Worried someone around you is secretly recording everything you do? No fear! There's a relatively low-tech way to defeat such snoops, via white-noise-producing audio jammers. These tiny devices use good ol' white noise to blur the sound picked up by hidden microphones and other surreptitious recording devices. (credit:<a href="http://www.flickr.com/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name="Flickr:" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5bb36476e4b0fa920b9792e4" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="http://www.flickr.com/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="before_you_go_slideshow" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="29" data-vars-position-in-unit="33">Flickr:</a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/anonymous9000/" role="link" class=" js-entry-link cet-external-link" data-vars-item-name=" Anonymous9000" data-vars-item-type="text" data-vars-unit-name="5bb36476e4b0fa920b9792e4" data-vars-unit-type="buzz_body" data-vars-target-content-id="http://www.flickr.com/people/anonymous9000/" data-vars-target-content-type="url" data-vars-type="web_external_link" data-vars-subunit-name="before_you_go_slideshow" data-vars-subunit-type="component" data-vars-position-in-subunit="30" data-vars-position-in-unit="34"> Anonymous9000</a>)
Phonekerchief(03 of09)
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MIT's Technology Review calls it the newest, hottest Thanksgiving accessory -- but you can use phone-size "Faraday cages" like this (sold by uncommongoods) to block your cellphone's call signal, WiFi and GPS. Handy now that federal courts are ruling that cops can track suspects via cellphone sans warrant, and Apple can remotely disable your phone camera with a click. As security researcher Jacob Appelbaum said in an interview with N+1 back in April, "Cell phones are tracking devices that make phone calls." So shouldn't you be prepared for when you don't want to be tracked? (credit:uncommongoods)
LED-Lined Hat(04 of09)
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Hidden cameras got you down? Blind them all with a simple baseball cap lined with infrared LEDs. Amie, a hacker on WonderHowTo, shows the world how to make one, while this German art exhibition lays out how these ingenious devices work. (credit:AP)
Bug Detector(05 of09)
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These receivers reveal the telltale electronic crackle of hidden mics and cameras. Strangely enough, they were around long before "surveillance culture" became a common phrase. Today they're sold in all sorts of shops for surveillance paranoids. (credit:Gadget Playground)
Camera Map(06 of09)
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Sometimes hiding your face isn't enough; sometimes you don't want to be seen at all. For those days, there's camera maps. The NYC Surveillance Camera Project is currently working to document the location of and working status of every security camera in New York City. This project has been replicated by others in Boston, Chicago and Bloomington, Indiana. Notbored.org has even published a guide to making your own surveillance camera maps (here). (credit:AP)
Dazzle Camouflage(07 of09)
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Credit to artist Adam Harvey for this one. Inspired by the "dazzle camouflage" used on submarines and warships during World War I, he designed a series of face paint principles meant to fool the facial recognition schemas of security cameras. Check out The Perilous Glamour of Life Under Surveillance for some tips on designing your own camera-fooling face paint. (credit:Adam Harvey)
Throwaway Cellphone(08 of09)
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Walmart may be the premier symbol of corporate America, but its disposable cellphone selection can help you start a thoroughly maverick lifestyle. $10 TracFones work on most major networks, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon, and come with minutes prepaid so you can dispose of the devices when you're done. (credit:AP)
RFID-Blocking Wallet(09 of09)
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Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) chips are now regularly implanted in passports, ID cards, credit cards and travel papers. These tiny chips make machine-reading your documents easier -- but could also let anyone with the right type of scanner scrape your information and track your whereabouts. Luckily, gadget geeks have come to the rescue again, this time with RFID-blocking wallets. Working on the same principle as the "phonekerchief", these wallets create a Faraday cage around your items, keeping their data secure until you take them out to be scanned where they're supposed to be scanned. Destroying the chip is simpler: just nuke it in the microwave for five seconds. Of course, whatever you're microwaving might burst into flames first... (credit:AP)
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