Why Google wants to publish every NSA request it receives

"Google has nothing to hide," says Google

Google
(Image credit: AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

In an attempt to assuage public fears that it has not been granting the National Security Agency "unfettered access" to user data, Google has penned an open letter asking the United States government for permission to disclose information about the secret court orders the king of search receives.

David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, writes that "Google has worked tremendously hard over the past fifteen years to earn [its] users' trust," and that it has "consistently pushed back on overly broad government requests" for user data.

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Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.