Google Responds to Data Privacy Day

Every January 28th is Data Privacy Day in order to bring awareness to user privacy and protection of information online.

Last week, Google released its bi-annual Transparency Report outlining requests for user data as well as how often Google will deny and hand out information.  Reporting began in July of 2010 and the report states, Google gave up  about 66% of the data that is requested by the government or other legal authorities for anything from Gmail files to Google Voice contacts.  In addition to this recent report, Google has added a new section which explains the process of removal and data requests on a Legal Process page.

Google-transparency-report

This teaches us the difference between Google sending out information on our search queries, which require a search warrant, versus email correspondences that can be obtained with a subpoena that doesn't have to be reviewed by a judge.

Googles attempts to provide pertinent information to authorities while protecting our privacy, is constantly shifting to keep up with changing laws and privacy policies.   These transparency reports help users know just how many requests for data come in.  Noted in this report was a 46% increase since the previous period.