Google has decided to update its transparency reports by adding preservation requests and expanding their emergency disclosure requests, which will now include more countries beyond the U.S.
So what will this new preservation request data show? Basically, it’ll show how many ties it receives government requests to set aside user account data.
From the announcement, “These requests can be made so that information needed in an investigation is not lost while the government goes through the steps to get the formal legal process asking us to disclose the information.”
There have been, in past reports, emergency disclosure requests but they were only for the U.S. But with these new disclosure, for every country that submits one, Google will provide data. When government agencies ask for information to save a life or whose life is in peril, these disclosure requests are “fast-tracked” to get the needed information to the requesting agencies
Google will also be sharing the following data from its 2014 report:
- Google received 30,138 requests from around the world for information on more than 50,585 users or accounts.
- It provided responses to 63 percent of those requests.
- Requests from Europe were up two percent, Asia/Pacific was up seven percent, and in Latin America, requests rose 22 percent.
There were two legal wins by Google recently, which includes the right to unseal court documents that relate to government requests associated with Wikileaks, as well as the right to release information on the 19 National Security Letters it challenged across several different jurisdictions.