The United States government’s demands for information pertaining to Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) users’ communications has increased 250 percent over the past five years, says a new report issued Monday by the search engine juggernaut.
According to the report, the number of requests for this information has continually risen in this half-decade time span, even after the website released further details of its programs.
In total, Google Inc. received more than 31,000 requests for data from governments all over the world in regards to 48,000 users’ accounts. Although this does not consist of special letters from the FBI and other intelligence agencies, the number of requests has jumped 15 percent in the past six months alone.
Of course, the U.S. remains the most insistent government when it comes to accessing data as it put forward 12,000 requests during the first six months of 2014 – it’s up 57 percent since 2009. Other active states include France, Germany and India.
Google Inc. noted that it granted nearly two-thirds of these requests. The company wrote in a blog post that in the wake of the leaks by Edward Snowden and a number of other sources, countries have greatly enhanced their surveillance means and have tried to tap into service providers outside of their borders.
“This increase in government demands comes against a backdrop of ongoing revelations about government surveillance programs,” wrote Richard Salgado, Google’s law enforcement and information security director, in a blog post. “To maintain public confidence in both government and technology, we need legislative reform that ensures surveillance powers are transparent, reasonably scoped by law, and subject to independent oversight.”
The website noted that it supports certain legislation that limits how the federal government collects and stores data, including Vermont Democratic Senator’s USA Freedom Act.
A growing number of American technology companies have suffered more serious setbacks than Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in their relationships with foreign governments and entities over fears that these U.S. firms would share their clients’ information with domestic spy agencies.