FollowGoogle offered an insight on how it takes care of government requests for the data of its users, honoring the Data Privacy Day. It is already nudging Congress to revise an outdated law regarding how your information can get accessed by the feds. Every single request, according to Google is scrutinized carefully, to make sure that all its policies are being met with.
Before complying, the search giant makes sure that everything is in writing and signed by a certified official and issued under a suitable law. Recently, Google had also released a revised Transparency Report. There were details for the first time to show how U.S. government executives acquire data about users from Google.
The requests for user data have seen a massive jump of over 70 % since 2009. Already, Google has received more than 21,000 requests for information about 33,634 users in last six months of 2012. The scopes of these requests are carefully evaluated. The search giant may even refuse the request if it is overly broad. They seek to narrow the request and this is done quite frequently.
Whenever appropriate, Google notifies the user who is the subject of the data request so that he or she can consult a lawyer or get in touch with the entity requesting the user details. Where the user is not got in touch, this is generally because Google doesn’t have verified contact details or is legally barred from doing so.
Where the government agencies are carrying criminal investigations, Google will need a search warrant form the feds, before they can lay their hands on any information. The search giant believes that a warrant is necessary by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that forbids unreasonable search and seizure. The section on Google’s Transparency Report page carries all such information.
Google says that it will do its best to protect the privacy and security of its users.
