THE TELEGRAPH: Google was asked by British authorities almost 1,200 times for information about the internet activites of individuals and companies in just six months, the search engine has disclosed.
Britons are among the most spied upon on the web, according to the figures which show only Brazil and the United States asked for more information.
The 1,166 requests for information - which relate to the second half of 2009 - came from agencies such as local and national police, and usually formed part of a criminal investigation. France asked for 846 pieces of information, and Germany for 428.
The search engine also received 59 requests from British government departments and other official sources to remove items from Google's services.
A Google spokesman said that the company regularly gets asked by governments for information relating to users’ emails or on how and where they have logged on. The company added, however, that where broad requests are made it endeavours to release as little information as is necessary by law. It complies with approximately 77 per cent of all British requests for removal.
Google has launched its Government Requests Tool to highlight the extent to which governments are using their legal systems to gather information about citizens or censor the web. However, it admitted it could not provide data for China as Beijing considers such figures as a state secret. >>> Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor | Wednesday, April 21, 2010
