Google's government-snooping data dump: By the numbers

"It may be easier than you think for government entities to demand the private data you've stored on Google's servers," says Andy Greenberg at Forbes. In its latest biannual Transparency Report, Google has announced yet another rise in the number of government and law enforcement requests for data on users — anything from web surfing habits to identifying who owns an email account to the content of emails — and for the first time broke down the U.S. requests by how the authorities asked for the information. In the vast majority of cases, officials didn't bother with a search warrant — the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) allows authorities to just issue subpoenas for data that's at least six months old.

The king of search complies with about 90 percent of U.S. government snooping requests, "but Google's willingness to reveal this data in the first place should be seen as a credit to the company's respect for privacy," says Greenberg, and one not shared by its peers — Microsoft and Facebook — or wireless carriers. The government authorities asking to peer into your electronic life don't inspire much confidence, either, says Matt Sledge at The Huffington Post. At a tech panel devoted to investigating how the government obtained the emails exposing former Gen. David Petraeus' career-ending extramarital affair, Google legal director Richard Salgado dropped this "depressing and revealing factoid about how law enforcement is actually using its subpoena and warrant powers to get information" about you: "I can't tell you how many requests we get for Facebook."

Here's a numerical look at how often U.S. and foreign governments try to tap into the e-lives of Google users, and how often they succeed.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

21,389

Government requests for data worldwide from July to December 2012

33,634

User accounts targeted in those searches

66

Percent of those requests that resulted in Google handing over at least some data

20,938

Government requests for data from January to June 2012

70

Percentage rise in number of requests for data since 2009

8,438

Requests from U.S. government authorities and investigators from July to December 2012

68

Percent of those requests that came through subpoenas instead of court-issued warrants

88

Percent of those requests Google complied with

22

Percent of requests that were through search warrants, usually approved by judges under the ECPA

88

Percent of those requests Google complied with

10

Percent of requests from "court orders issued under ECPA by judges or other processes that are difficult to categorize"

90

Percent of those requests Google complied with

2,431

Data requests from India

66

Percentage of those requests Google complied with

1,693

Data requests from France

44

Percentage of those requests Google complied with

1,458

Data requests from the UK

70

Percentage of those requests Google complied with

97

Data requests from Russia

1

Percentage of those requests Google complied with

149

Data requests from Turkey

Percentage of those requests Google complied with

Sources: Forbes, Google (2), Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo