Google has been in the news lately for many privacy/censorship/etc. issues. I supposed Google HQ has got tired of the Google-bashing when it comes to ‘net neutrality, so is now Google is fighting back. Today Google has released a new “Government Requests tool” to give users insight on which governments have made the most requests to Google to either remove content, or to provide information on a user:

(NOTE: Data on request from China is not given because the Chinese government considers the data to be “state secrets” and therefore Google cannot release the information.

Notably, Brazil, USA, UK, and India have the four highest data requests (i.e. requests for information) and Brazil, Germany, India, USA have the four highest removal requests (i.e. requests to remove content).

So, what exactly does Google’s new toy show us? Since this is a fairly politically charged topic, be sure to read the FAQs before jumping to any conclusions:

(Click on image to view FAQs in full size.)

The most notable aspects of the FAQs are the clarifications that the tool is based off the number of requests made to Google from July 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009 and that most requests were in relational to “criminal matters”.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this topic below; speak your mind but remember to play nice when posting a comment!