Google Says It's Getting Far More User-Data Requests From Government
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November 14, 2013 2:11 PM
Google says the number of requests it gets from the U.S. government for user information is rising fast.
The company released new Thursday showing such requests have more than doubled since 2010. From January to June of this year, Google received 10,918 government orders in criminal cases, compared with 4,287 three years ago. The numbers are part of Google's semiannual , which tracks requests to remove content and see users' data in countries where it operates.
The latest report shows the U.S. was far and away the biggest seeker of data by users, followed by India, Germany and France. The vast majority of U.S. requests came in the form of subpoenas, not court-ordered warrants, which is significant because they have a lower legal threshold.
In its report, Google complains that the government will not let it disclose precise numbers of national security requests, which come with a gag order, and notes that it has asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for permission to do so. That means the totals do not include requests by the National Security Agency for surveillance data.
Google and other companies also cannot disclose the exact number of "National Security Letters" they receive these are essentially government-issued orders for information related to national security. Government officials say that disclosing these details would help terrorists figure out which Internet companies they should avoid when communicating.
The industry has been fighting back against the perception that it is a willing participant in the NSA surveillance activities exposed by leaker Edward Snowden.
Google has joined other Internet companies in supporting legislation that would allow more transparency, such as the Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013. It would require more government reporting on surveillance, and allow Silicon Valley to do the same. But as the Two-Way , the government has come down in opposition to such efforts.
David Guyatt Wrote:More UKUSA fun and games
Quote:Indonesia recalls Canberra ambassador over Yudhoyono phone tapping attempt
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Matters have now deteriorated further because a top level Liberal Party advisor (Lynton Crosby's partner Mark Textor if you're interested) sent a tweet likening the Indonesian foreign minister to a 1970's Filipino porn star. Which naturally begs the question how does Mark Textor know so much about 1970's Filipino porn. Oh, and the quality and veracity of the 'advice' the party in government is getting.
Current betting odds are :
Tabcorp: Abbott apologizes to SBY $12.45. Abbott fucks up & starts a war with Indonesia $1.20
I can see other states following suit.
Which might be a warning g sign to Apple to modify it's software if it wants to retain it's pre eminency.
David Guyatt Wrote:I can see other states following suit.
Which might be a warning g sign to Apple to modify it's software if it wants to retain it's pre eminency.
I'd be interested to know the software that the Germans are going to use.
Mozilla have brought out a cheap phone with their own operating system which is open source and big on privacy. Hard to put in back doors in open source because everyone can see it. Apple is closed proprietary software so who really knows what they have inside there.
David Guyatt Wrote:I can see other states following suit.
Which might be a warning g sign to Apple to modify it's software if it wants to retain it's pre eminency.
It's not just the software though David. Much of the spooks ability to crack encryption has been surreptitiously engineered into the hardware itself for well over a decade now - especially the CPU's and related chips produced by the major manufacturers. The big chip manufacturers - and we are talking seriously big corporations - would never have become seriously big chip manufacturers without providing the ability to remotely access and change critical registers. That ability - to help iron-out bugs in existing hardware naturally - has been part and parcel of of the main OS CPU's since the late nineties at least - God knows what levels of sophistication it has evolved too since.
But I agree, the days of States who wish to have their comms remain at least opaque to NSA/GCHQ spying, continuing to rely on devices containing either hardware or software supplied by US controlled corporations are numbered.
All of that has been laid bare by the Snowden affair. The Spooks do not like it one bit and neither do their pet corporations which, without a shadow of doubt, include both Apple and Microsoft + Intel and AMD.