Google has released the latest version of its
Transparency Report, covering the period from July 1 through December 31, 2012. In the report, Google states that the U.S. government made 8,438 requests of user data from Google during the period, covering a reported 14,791 users/accounts, and that Google responded fully or partially to an aggregate of 88% of those requests, broken down as follows:
July to December 2012
|
Records Requested
|
Users/Accounts
|
Percentage Fully/Partially Complied With
|
Search Warrant
|
1,896
|
3,152
|
88%
|
Subpoena
|
5,784
|
10,390
|
88%
|
Other
|
758
|
1,249
|
90%
|
The number of of these requests, particularly from the U.S. government, has been steadily increasing over the past few years; the U.S. government made only 3,580 total requests in the same period in 2009. Google states in the introduction to its report, "We review each request to make sure that it complies with both the
spirit and the letter of the law, and we may refuse to produce
information or try to narrow the request in some cases." It also attributes some of the increase to its own growth: "Usage of our services have increased every year, and so have the user data request numbers."
While Google is to be commended for its efforts to disclose (some of) the requests for information it receives, the report and the increases it shows serve as a reminder of the size, scope and value of Google's collection of data about its users. Given how many products Google owns, many of which may not bear obvious Google branding (such as the
Zagat Restaurant Guide) but may still be feeding user data into Google's central servers (Zagat's privacy policy is the
Google shared one, as is that of its fellow non-obvious Google acquisition, the
Frommer's Travel Guides site), one may legitimately question whether all users are able to provide truly informed consent to Google's data collection, which is increasingly a governmental resource as well.
