Google Details How It Responds To Government Requests For User & Search Data

Google has written a blog post documenting their legal process and approach to dealing with government requests for user and search data, highlighting a new section now available in Google that also answers more of these questions.

Governments routinely ask search engines like Google for access to user data for various reasons. From search logs, to email accounts, to browser history, to purchase history. Google says they take each request incredibly seriously.

They post transparency reports for all user data requests issued by governments around the world. In the U.S. they even document if the requests are subpoenas, court orders and/or warrants.

Today, on Data Privacy Day, Google posted a new section on the Transparency Report portal for the legal process Google takes for each user data request they receive by governments. Google explains questions such as:

• Why might a government agency request my data?
• What does Google do when it receives a legal request for user data?
• How many of these requests does Google receive and comply with?
• Why does Google publish the Transparency Report?
• Has Google successfully narrowed requests before?
• In what situations wouldn’t you tell me about a request for my information?
• I received an email from Google saying that someone has requested information related to my account. What does this mean?
• What can I do about a request like this?

These are some of the more common questions Google is asked from users regarding this topic.