Request revelations
The British government has filed more requests for information from Google than any other European country, according to the internet giant's second Transparency Report.
The tool, which was unveiled this week, records governments from all over the globe's requests for information, plus any extra details, which are plotted on a Google map.
According to the map, the UK's government lodged 1,343 requests with Google in the first half of 2010, averaging out at around 7 requests per day.
The UK's inquisitive nature has made it the fourth nosiest country in the world according to the report, trailing India, Brazil and the US, which topped the chart with 4,287 requests.
It transpires that Westminster made 48 requests to take down content, while most of the requests are believed to have sought data such as IP addresses and accounts for criminal investigations.
Intriguingly, countries perceived to be hot on snooping such as Libya and Russia made no requests at all, while China made one.
Civil liberties groups told the BBC, the tool will be ‘invaluable' to activists in their fight against government censorship.
Lilian Edwards, a board member of the Open Rights Group, reportedly said: "I think it is a tremendous initiative and it would be helpful if other networks could do the same thing.I think there will be some embarrassing data and it will vary from country to country. The UK is neither the best or the worst. It would be interesting to see whether these take-downs refer to libel, surveillance and intercepts or the content industries. The more data we have the more useful it will be."
Announcing the tool's first update, Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, wrote in a blog: "When Google's services are blocked or filtered, we can't serve our users effectively. That's why we act every day to maximize free expression and access to information. Free expression is one of our core values. We believe that more information means more choice, more freedom and ultimately more power for the individual."
The company is keen to trumpet its 'free' credentials after a public ‘compromise' with the Chinese government over censorship. Google only avoided an out-right ban by agreeing to stop automatically re-routing traffic though its less heavily censored Hong Kong site.
