In the last four years, Google says, the number of request coming through from governments to receive Google users’ private information has increased by a whopping 120 percent. While the governments in question would no doubt like everyone to believe that the huge demand is a result of an increase in the amount of people using Google, the company says that more governments are beginning to make demands to receive the private, personal information of citizens using the world’s most famous search engine.
Perhaps not surprisingly in light of the alleged illegal actions of the National Security Agency in spying on Americans, the majority of the demands for users’ information came from the United States. While some government demands are not met, it’s being reported that 83 percent of requests from the US were met.
After whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations last year about the actions of the NSA, tech companies and other businesses have begun to look to the government for more transparency in the way spying programs are conducted. However, that has done nothing to stem the tide of government demands for information; and to many onlookers, Google seems as though it is more interested in providing the NSA what it asks for than it is in protecting the personal information of its users.
One group of United States citizens most at risk of having private information revealed is made up primarily of journalists and publishers. According to reports from the BBC, 21 out of 25 of the leading news agencies had been the target of government hacking, an activity which is illegal but which governments, including the United States, nonetheless perform.
Google says government demand for user information has risen 120 percent in the last four years, and it shows no sign of slowing down or stopping anytime soon.
