Last November saw Google announce the findings of its bi-annual Transparency Report. Interestingly, the findings revealed that government surveillance of online lives is on a sharp incline. In fact, governments around the world made nearly 21,000 requests for access to Google data in the first six months of 2012, a huge leap from the 12,539 requests reported in 2009. The US government was the biggest culprit, making 7,969 requests in the first six months of 2012, while Turkey made the most requests for content to be removed.
Despite the big numbers, this demand for data should come as no surprise. Information is increasingly being accepted as the currency of today, so it fits that demand for Google data would be so high. Data is an undeniably invaluable asset and both the private and the public sector are realising this. (more…)