The newest transparency report update has been released by Google, and it reports 40,677 requests for user data from governments around the world.
According to the transparency report, over 5,000 more requests during the second half of 2015 was compared to January through June of 2015, with 81,311 total users/accounts specified.
There were over 100 countries listed on the transparency report, and out of all of them, the US had the most government requests for user data and account information at 12,523, while Germany followed with 7,491 requests. France came in third with 4,174 requests.
Google noted in its Google Public Policy blog post that it had led the charge for global transparency around government surveillance laws.
We helped create the Reform Government Surveillance coalition to encourage Congress and the executive branch to take steps to modernize US surveillance laws, further protect the privacy and data security rights of all users, including those outside the US and those not of US nationality, and improve diplomatic processes to promote a robust, principled, and transparent framework for legitimate cross-border investigations.
According to Google, 64 percent of the 40,677 requests resulted in “some data” being produced.