Google reveals US' 'snoop-data requests' tripled in last 3 yrs

GoogleWashington, Nov. 15  : Google has reportedly said that the US government's requests for user data increased three-fold in the last three years.

The search giant revealed in its transparency report that the US requests for data soared from 3,580 in 2009 to 10,918 in June 2013.

The transparency reports from tech giants have become a norm since the revelations made by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden who exposed the US' mass surveillance programmes in which these companies were made part of.

In a bid to gain back trust, the companies have started to publish their transparency reports detailing only the number of requests made by the various governments and the data about how many of them were furnished.

According to Fox News, Google has used the periodic disclosures as an opportunity to push back against those government demands, many of which Google is banned from even discussing.

Google's legal director of law enforcement and information security, Richard Salgado said that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ( ECPA ) must be updated in the Congress and governmental entities should be required to obtain a warrant, before requiring companies like Google to disclose the content of users' electronic communications.

The report said that Google's latest transparency report, indicated that worldwide government requests for data have more than doubled since 2009, from countries including India, Germany, France, the U. K. and Brazil, but the US is the top demander. (ANI)