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Government Surveillance Growing, According To Google
SternisheFan writes with news that Google has updated is Transparency Report for the sixth time, and the big takeaway this time around is a significant increase in government surveillance. From the article:
"In a blog post, Google senior policy analyst Dorothy Chou says, ' [G]overnment demands for user data have increased steadily since we first launched the Transparency Report.' In the first half of 2012, the period covered in the report, Chou says there were 20,938 inquiries from government organizations for information about 34,614 Google-related accounts. Google has a long history of pushing back against governmental demands for data, going back at least to its refusal to turn over search data to the Department of Justice in 2005. Many other companies have chosen to cooperate with government requests rather than question or oppose them, but Chou notes that in the past year, companies like Dropbox, LinkedIn, Sonic.net and Twitter have begun making government information requests public, to inform the discussion about Internet freedom and its limits. According to the report, the U.S. continues to make the most requests for user data, 7,969 in the first six months of the year. Google complied with 90% of these requests. Google's average compliance rate for the 31 countries listed in the report is about 47%."
They don't like competition.
More and more of people's lives take place on the internet.
Things that used to be ephemeral (telephone calls, letters, etc.) are becoming long-lived (emails, social networking posts, instant messages, etc.) and are useful investigative toosl.
Previously the police needed to get telephone records and then analyze the calling records to form connections. With social networks like Facebook, people do it for them.
Can the authorities abuse their position of power for various nefarious deeds? Absolutely. Are some of their requests legally or ethically dubious? No doubt. Nevertheless, there's plenty of legitimate reasons for governments to request user information and it should come as no surprise that the number of such requests is increasing.
That said, it's nice to see that major players like Google are quantifying the requests and the reasons behind them, as well as pushing back against such demands.
Most things are worse when the government does it.
What did Google expect? That government wouldn't see that social networking sites and Google's press for personal information would be an attractive target?
After all, what once required actually boots hitting the ground, gathering of data, and correllating it together can be fulfilled with a simple, easy and no-fuss request to Google and the like, why wouldn't the government do that? It's cheaper, easier, and faster. And Google keeps demanding more information from you, making it even MORE tempting for government.
Of course, it's not like Google can do anything about it - they depend on knowing lots about you to begin with in order to pay the bills.
Whatever happened to "Don't be evil"? And how many tens of thousands of enquiries from "government agencies" does one have to receive before one is not acting as a subject but rather as an arm of that same government. And, at what point do people have to say "enough"?
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
/* MAGIC THEATRE
ENTRANCE NOT FOR EVERYBODY
MADMEN ONLY */
Is there anywhere that I can see exactly whose records were requested? Or is it all done in bulk?
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I know most people don't care because they don't feel they're doing anything wrong, but for people like me, this is just another show of how over-reaching the government is becoming.
Everyone is innocent, until a government decides otherwise.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Street view, drones(they are starting this in Texas), TSA, mobile devices, GPS, facial recognition and most everyone is on that database now.
*checks tinfoil hat placement*
"That's right...I said it."
For government information requests, Google should also send a copy of the request and the response to the user.
I'm certain that the old saying, they attack because they envy our freedoms still apply. I'm certain the middle eastern people's wouldn't feel at home in the "freedom loving" country USA.
I'm only pissed off because these stupid ideas and police state tactics, laws and such are being exported from USA to Europe so that they can comply with USG requests and of course to fill their envy quota of power grabbing from the people. USA is today, is a black hole, sucking away the light.
who the fu& is paying for it?
If you're innocent you have nothing to fear.
But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Although I do see your point, there is a subtle difference. I can choose not to use Google...
While I agree with you on most of this, I must say, Israel has never been shy about deploying soldiers, I bet they'll be on the battlefield.
Bullshit. Besides, no one is innocent. With as many laws as we have, do you really think there is any individual haven't broken at least one of them? If you are "innocent", it simply means you haven't pissed off anyone in power yet.
Well I seem to recall the following things being quite bad when the government does them:
- Phones
- Electricity
- Television/Radio Decency Standards
- Drug enforcement
- Energy planning
- Political News Reporting
- Overall News Reporting
- Responding to Crises (Katrina, Gulf Oil Spill, Sandy)
- Respect for Personal Property
- Crime Investigation
Road Building, Defense, Fire Departments, and health care usually get tonnes of money thrown at them. For the price paid, Government generally does a terrible job on those as well. But because we overspend, it's arguable they do a good job of it. If you want to see government employees disappointing you, go find some area where they're paid badly, or have budgets that are being scaled back regularly.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
You are supposed to warn people about spoilers.
America's roads and bridges are crumbling as we rebuild them in Iraq.
Defense hasn't been defense in an awfully long time, it's the Department of Offense. And they spend trillions to blow up tents in the middle of nowhere.
Medicare accounts for half of all healthcare spending in this country, and only covers a small portion of us.
Fire departments are run locally, and the only thing on this list which is run reasonably well.
I think it's safe to say that the federal government does things pretty poorly.
Wow, that's quite a spike in user content take down requests in the six months leading up to a major election! I wonder if this will repeat in 2016? My bet is that they will start auto-generating background noise requests in order to render Google's reports useless to the public. Some of those randomly selected users are going to be seriously baffled!
Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
Amazing. So people who are underpaid on missions that are underfunded don't perform as well as YOU would like them to? I'll alert the media.
You complain government does things badly, cite some good examples mixed in with some pretty questionable ones, and just know you're right, huh?
You know that outside the "all government is always bad" bubble that there are people in this country who, to this day, would not have electricity or phones were it not for government action. You cite two disasters and throw in one very recent politicized one where most failures have been PRIVATE (power, gas, fuel) and you blame government for not fixing what they don't control? Oh, and your middle crisis was a direct result of private industry hubris and stupidity and you blame government for not fixing their mess? (I blame government for allowing that kind of drilling in the first place, but that's another matter.)
I practically turn purple railing against overly intrusive "law enforcement" tactics by government thugs. I know that law enforcement is the cause of massive amounts of ruined lives and ended lives. I know we need to strip them of their power, badly. I also know that other kinds of things government does actually work, and I really know that a lack of objective analysis coupled with plenty of self delusion leads to some very interesting results. I think the person you most likely voted for in the presidential election learned that the hard way recently.
And they gotta make sure us little pissant subjects don't revolt, or drink a Big Gulp.
When you consider that they recently patented finding people likely to be evildoers based on their social connections, well... http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/11/09/1452243/google-patents-guilt-by-association
Most things are worse when the government does it.
Which do you mean? That Google is much more efficient at surveilling us than any government could hope to be? Or that it was unfortunate that Google's DB fell into the hands of the Chinese government and may in the future fall into the hands of a government which governs you?
Thinking of changing my sig to:If Chrome were the last browser on earth ... I would browse with wget.
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
Everyone is innocent, until a government decides otherwise.
Try telling this to the "if you aren't doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear" crowd. Their response is invariably "the government would never do that".
I drink to make other people interesting!
Fire departments are run locally, and the only thing on this list which is run reasonably well.
They run even better with less government involvement. Several years ago I was a member of a volunteer fire department. Only the chief was a government employee. Everyone else was an unpaid volunteer. We had one pumper truck, and rest of our vehicles were pickup trucks, parked at the home of a volunteer in each neighborhood. What we lacked in professional training and equipment, we made up with really fast response times, which is the single most important factor in fighting fires. I don't understand why volunteer fire depts are not more common.
Regarding Google and Chrome: I have started using an Andriod tablet. At first it made me nervous, because you are very "checked in" to the googleplex when using Chrome on an Android tablet. Everything is keyed to your Google Play account, and you're generaly logged in on your account when using the browser. Then I discovered Firefox for Android. Now it's almost the only browser I use on my Galaxy Tab.
If you really want to avoid google, it only takes a few host entries and you'll find most sites still work just fine, with no google tracking.
Try that to opt out of your government...
That's rather naive, I think. Google is a corporation, one which people agree to certain conditions in order to use the corporation's services.
On the other hand, the government is supposed to work for the people. In fact, we have a constitution that was meant to limit government's powers and authority. That constitution granted us rights, and limited government's rights.
You can fight against Google's snooping without worrying about prison time. Fighting government snooping may very well land you in prison.
Just think about it.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
As long as they are taking down the likes of Petraeus and now maybe General Allen, I'm fine with it.
Not that I'm being judgmental about a bit of hanky-panky. But them that lives by the sword, dies by the sword.
Have gnu, will travel.
Yeah, it used to be correctly named the Department of War, or as seen in the movies "The War Department". But I believe after WWII, they changed it to "Department of Defense" since there was no longer a current war; now considering the large number of never-ending not-declared-by-congress Wars that we are fighting on multiple fronts, the Department of War would again be the apropos moniker. It's just that it doesn't have the right political flavor for the pretense of moral superiority that "DoD" has.
the following things being quite bad when the US government does them:
FTFY
Many other governments around the world manage these things reasonably effectively. Your government seems more ideological/theological/tribally driven than most, which makes practical approaches to service provision less likely.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Perhaps a merger is on the cards?
I have to say that I'm not completely sure about that. When the government obtains tons of personal information about you, they can use it against you. When a corporation in the US obtains tons of personal information about you, they'll probably use it to make more money... but the government will also try to get access to that information, and if they do get it (which they probably will), they'll use it against you. In that scenario, it's possible that numerous entities get your information. As long as the government can simply ask corporations for information without a warrant and is able to use it in court against you, I'll have to say that it's getting to the point where it's worse if a corporation gets your information.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
"Medicare accounts for half of all healthcare spending in this country, and only covers a small portion of us"
Soooo, obamacare will fix this?
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All you pouty boys shut up, let someone with some sense explain this.
It really is (past) time for an explanation of how this is going to work.
No brain, no pain.
The constitution doesn't just limit the governments powers, it enumerates them.
These companies conduct way more surveillance PER CITIZEN than govt.
Right, but my entire point was that the government can get this data from the companies, and then multiple entities have the it; one of them (the government) can ruin your life. Because corporations so freely hand over the data to the government, it can sometimes be worse if a corporation is the one who gets the data, in my opinion.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
So what if they do? Do you have any evidence of Mozilla tracking users without their consent, or are you just defaming them?
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I think it's safe to say that the federal government does things pretty poorly.
I disagree. I think it is safe to say that some people have figured out how to insert themselves in between the government programs and the people. They are like leeches or ticks that have become swollen and bloated, not realizing that they are literally (yes, literally) killing the host with their excesses.
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
I can see it now. The Microsoft police only answer calls from Windows phones and the officers always have the flu. Then there's the self-driving Google ambulance that requires a DNA sample as it shows you ads relevant to your current medical condition. Don't even get me started on the Apple hospital, it's literally a walled garden and the jello costs $20.
"....compared to the mainly private healthcare system used in the USA."
How is the USA healthcare system "mainly private"? Two government programs Medicare & Medicaid account for the bulk of healthcare expenditures in the USA. Government mandates such as EMTALA are pervasive. Government places artificial barriers to competition in healthcare services, insurance and prescription drugs. Insurance policies face further mandates about what they absolutely must cover.
It's a massive government cluster**** that people and businesses in the private sector are forced to deal with.
The USA government's 45 year intervention in the healthcare system has been a complete disaster. Suggesting that MORE government is the way to fix a problem caused by government is ludicrous.
Yes, the USA government should stop doing what it's doing and GET OUT of areas where they never belonged in the first place.
You are supposed to warn people about spoilers.
My bad.
**SPOILER ALERT** - Juliet didn't actually poison herself.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
They run even better with less government involvement. Several years ago I was a member of a volunteer fire department. Only the chief was a government employee. Everyone else was an unpaid volunteer. We had one pumper truck, and rest of our vehicles were pickup trucks, parked at the home of a volunteer in each neighborhood. What we lacked in professional training and equipment, we made up with really fast response times
Several years ago my car caught fire. I was on my way down to the St Louis area to see some friends, and was first going to my daughter's in a nearby town who had a volunteer fire department.
It took almost an hour for you yahoos to show up. Had my car caught fire on a weekday I'd not have lost the car (assuming they're as fast as you say). If It had caught fire in Springfield with its city-run professionals I wouldn't have lost it.
Fast, my ass. Maybe yours is, but Chatham's sure isn't. Tell me, why would a volunteer fire department be faster than professionals? I've had to call for an ambulance twice, and in both cases the fire department was there in under five minutes but it took the corporate-run ambulance fifteen (the firetruck and its medics always shows up when you call an ambulance here).
Free Martian Whores!
That constitution granted us rights, and limited government's rights.
Wrong. It enumerates government powers and says that anything not granted to the feds is your right or your state's right. It does NOT gurantee rights, although the first ten amendments do quantify certain rights. But see the tenth amendment, which says that your rights are not limited by the Bill of Rights.
Free Martian Whores!
Not if the book is older than you, especially one as widely known as 1984.
Free Martian Whores!
That is inevitable in a bloated bureaucracy.
No, you're actually entirely incorrect. It has nothing to do with the ideological stance of the government, it has everything to do with the size of the government. The U.S. Government is quite probably the largest single employer in the world. If not it's definitely in the top 5. When you have a massive system of shitty employees who cannot be fired trying to meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people, you are bound to get absolute sh*t everywhere.
Other governments in other countries are likely much better, especially when compared to Europe, but it's the SIZE that matters, not the ideology. If you want to compare on equal/fair footing, compare the best states in the U.S. with the best countries in Europe.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
Troll? Flamebait? WTF? It's entirely factual and non-inflammatory. I guess any time anyone says anything positive about government is troll and flamebait?
You got one thing right -- bad moderation.
Free Martian Whores!