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Google Enumerates Government Requests

Posted by kdawson on from the you-asked-we-told dept.

D H NG writes "In the aftermath of Google's exit from mainland China, it had sought to be more open about what it censors. Google has launched a new tool to track the number of government requests targeted at Google and YouTube. These include both requests for data and requests to take down data. A quick look at the tool shows that Brazil is the top country in both categories (largely because Orkut is popular there), and information for China cannot be disclosed because 'Chinese officials consider censorship demands as state secrets.' As part of its four-part plan, Google hopes to change the behavior of repressive governments, establish guiding principles for dealing with issues of free expression, build support online to protest repression, and better provide resources and support for developing technology designed to combat and circumvent Internet censorship."

5 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Any second now. by moogied · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Queue the people explaining how this is evil because its "not enough".

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    So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
    1. Re:Any second now. by ElectricTurtle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Google is trying to keep its employees and former employees out of prison. You do realize that these requests made by the Chinese government were processed in part by Chinese employees of Google, yes? Well if Google airs all the requests in violation of Chinese law, guess who ends up in pound-you-in-the-ass prison? It's not Larry and Sergey. I'm glad that Google has conscience enough not to throw its current and former Chinese employees under the bus just to make political hay or accomplish a goal, however admirable that goal may be.

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      I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
  2. Why? by MrTripps · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So why can't Google tell China to go pound sand and post them anyway? They can always blame it on some anonymous hacker, say the data was found in a bar, or just slip it to Wiki Leaks.

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    "I'm not a quack, I'm a mad scientist! There's a difference." - Dr. Cockroach
    1. Re:Why? by Nadaka · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Possibly because they still have people in china that will be arrested, found guilty and executed if google went that far.

  3. Brazilian Censorship by acid06 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As a Brazilian, I'm glad this exposes a situation which isn't usually discussed but should be given more attention now that Brazil is trying to gain additional worldwide relevance (through G20 and all that).

    Brazilian courts have been extremely unreasonable and have forced Google to hand over private information and take down pages without much fanfare. Even though none of the data is actually hosted in Brazil, the courts have fined and threatened to fine Google several times because of this.

    In Brazil, service providers have liability for their users actions and there are laws protecting the "private image" of individuals (even celebrities). In effect, paparazzi can be sued around here. Journalists can be sued and bloggers aren't considered journalists. Writing a story denouncing a politician can get you a lawsuit.

    All this mess accounts for a lot of these requests. Google isn't being evil, but I wish there was more international pressure against the Brazilian government.