Governments want more Google content removed, with Turkey and Russia getting extra greedy

Google saw a sharp rise in the number of government requests to have users’ content removed during the first half of this year, in many cases for political reasons, the company reported on Thursday.

Apparently, as more people take to Google to document and store information about goings on in the world, more governments and institutions have grown increasingly weary over how that information might damage their reputations and political processes. In response, the rate at which governments and other authorities are asking the Internet giant to remove certain types of content is going up—aggressively.

Google reported a 68 percent rise in those types of requests for the first six months of 2013, compared to the second half of last year. In total, the company received some 3,800 government requests to remove nearly 25,000 pieces of content.

The trend is worrying, Google said in its latest transparency report, which is designed to illuminate how laws and policies affect others’ access to the information users store online.

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2082120/governments-want-more-google-content-removed-with-turkey-and-russia-getting-extra-greedy.html#tk.rss_all

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