Google has a website where they tell in general terms and government requests for information they receive
Douglas Carswell, a Member of Parliament in the UK, noted this in his blog after noting that, obviously, some requests are legitimate and necessary in the course of government activities:
The danger, however, is that requests for data stop becoming exceptional, and become routine. Snooping gmail accounts should not be acceptable except when dealing with pretty serious matters.
Encouragingly, Google seems pretty robust at turning down government requests to remove items officials object to. Almost one in four British requests was turned down.I’d be alarmed if Google complied with 100% of removal requests. Equally, if too many requests were being rejected, I’d want to know why British officials were so quick to ask.
It is good that Google allows us to see what our government is asking of them – and compare it with what other governments are doing, too.
So where are Facebook and Twitter’s pages like this? One wonders.
Just don’t assume that even your Gmail is private… nothing in “the cloud” is ultimately secure.
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