Google Launches Government Requests Tool Providing Data on Content Removal Requests

On April 20, 2010, Google launched Government Requests which provides data on the number of government requests the Company has received to remove content and the pecentage of those requests the Company complied with on a country-by-country basis in a map display. For the launch, Google provides data from July-December, 2009 with plans to update the data in 6-month increments. From the Offical Google Blog post, Greater transparency around government requests:

We already try to be as transparent as legally possible with respect to requests. Whenever we can, we notify users about requests that may affect them personally. If we remove content in search results, we display a message to users. The numbers we are sharing today take this transparency a step further and reflect the total number of requests we have received broken down by jurisdiction. We are also sharing the number of these content removal requests that we do not comply with, and while we cannot yet provide more detail about our compliance with user data requests in a useful way, we intend to do so in the future.

See also the Offical Google Blog post entitled Controversial content and free expression on the web: a refresher. [JH]