Government demands for information on Google’s users have risen 150% since the tech giant first started publishing their numbers, the company said on Monday. In the US the number of requests leapt 250%.  According to Google’s latest transparency report, in the first half of 2014, the number of government demands rose 15% compared to the second half of last year, and a 150% increase since Google first began publishing this data in 2009. In the US those increases are 19% and 250% respectively.  “This increase in government demands comes against a backdrop of revelations about government surveillance programs,” Google legal director Richard Salgado wrote in a blogpost. “Despite these revelations, we have seen some countries expand their surveillance authorities in an attempt to reach service providers outside their borders. Others are considering similar measures.”  He wrote that governments had a “legitimate and important role in fighting crime and investigating national security threats”, but added that laws needed to be transparent. “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,” he wrote.  President Obama asked Congress to rein in the bulk collection of information from US citizens in January after revelations in the Guardian and the Washington Post about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive surveillance programs. But reform has proved difficult to achieve.  The report comes after Yahoo won the right to disclose details of it’s here-to secret fight with the US government in 2008 over demands for user’s information. Court papers released Friday showed the US has asked for a daily fine of $250,000 if Yahoo failed to comply with its demands. The fine was set to double if Yahoo refused to hand over information.  Google’s latest report also shines some light on the number of requests for information made by the NSA under national security letters (NSL) and from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa). Google and its peers are limited in the amount of detail they can publish about such requests, which are excluded from their main report.  The FBI can prohibit a recipient of an NSL from disclosing that they have received one if it is “a danger to the national security of the United States”. Current law prohibits recipients of Fisa requests from disclosing their existence.  Google is allowed to report a number - within a broad range - reflecting how many NSL and Fisa requests are received. The information is delayed by six months. Between July and December 2013 Google received between 0 and 999 requests under FISA and the same under NSL.  Salgado reiterated Google’s support for the USA Freedom Act, introduced by senators Patrick Leahy, Mike Lee, Al Franken and Dean Heller, which would prevent the bulk collection of internet metadata under various legal authorities. Metadata is data that includes details such as where an email or call was made, where it went, how long it lasted and other information that can an enormous insight into a user’s activities and contacts.  The act would allow Google to “be more transparent about the volume, scope and type of national security demands that we receive, and would create stronger oversight and accountability mechanisms. Congress should move now to enact this legislation,” wrote Salgado.  Salgado also called on Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, introduced under President Reagan, “to make it clear that the government must obtain a search warrant before it can compel a service provider to disclose the content of a user’s communication.”  “This commonsense reform is now supported by a broad range of consumer groups, trade associations, and companies that comprise the Digital Due Process coalition,” he wrote.  “Additionally, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition urging the White House to back this bill, which enjoys bipartisan support from 266 House Members (well over a majority of the House) and passed the Senate judiciary committee in April 2013.  “There is a growing consensus in support of these reforms. In the remaining days of this session, Congress has a chance to pass historic legislation that will help restore trust that has been lost. We urge them to seize upon this opportunity.”
Transparency report shows global government requests for information rose 15% last year, as tech giant urges surveillance reform