It is also among the first 20 worldwide in aggressive electronic monitoring of citizens
China has a reputation for it, but they’re hardly alone. A new Google tool shows India ranks third among the countries which regularly request Google to remove unpalatable content.
With 142 requests for removal of content made over a six-month period — from July 1 to December 31, 2009 — India is next only to Brazil, which made 291 such requests, and Germany, which made 188. Over the same period, India also made 1,061 requests for data, ranking fourth on Google’s list on this. The top three countries for data requests are Brazil (3,663), the US (3,580) and UK (1,166).
China officially blocks content, and hence does not figure in the Google ranking.
Removal requests ask for removal of content from Google search results or from another Google product, including YouTube. For purposes of this report, data requests ask for information about Google user accounts or products. The statistics primarily cover requests in criminal matters. A small number of requests are likely to fall outside this category.
“Like other technology and communications companies, we regularly receive requests from government agencies around the world to remove content from our services or provide information about users of our services and products. The map shows the number of requests that we received between July 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009, with certain limitations,” reads the Google website.
Google acknowledges these numbers are imperfect and may not provide a complete picture of these government requests. For example, a single request may ask for the removal of more than one URL or for the disclosure of information for multiple users. “We’re new at this, and we’re still learning the best way to collect and present this information. We’ll continue to improve this tool and fine-tune the types of data we display,” the website adds.
The vast majority of requests for removal of copyrighted material on YouTube are received from private parties. Some may come from state or foreign governments, but that number is very low. Regardless, such requests are not reflected in these statistics, notes Google on its website.
The “data requests” numbers reflect the list of requests Google received about the users of its services and products from government agencies like local and federal police. “They don’t indicate whether we complied with a request for data in any way,” says Google.
Google’s new tool follows its battle with China over internet censorship, which made headlines around the globle. But, the online search giant is not new to such incidents. At least 25 countries, many of them with repressive regimes but even those with democracies, have at times blocked the public’s access to Google over the past several years. Over 40 countries actively censor the internet, compared with a handful in 2004, which is when the OpenNet Initiative, a group of academics, began tracking global censorship.
Incidentally, a private company called Cryptohippie Inc., which surveyed 52 countries in May 2009 for having the most aggressive procedures to monitor residents electronically, ranked India as No 20. The report, called The Electronic Police State, assessed the status of government surveillance around the globe for 2008. Not surprisingly, the rankings for the year of 2008 show China and North Korea occupying the top spots as the most complete Electronic Police States in the world, followed by Belarus and Russia. The UK (England/Wales), US and Singapore follow closely on their heels.
The usual image of a “police state” includes secret police dragging people out of their homes at night, with scenes out of Nazi Germany or Stalin’s USSR. The problem with these images is that they are horribly outdated, states the report. “That’s how things worked during your grandfather’s war — that is not how things work now.” An electronic police state is quiet, even unseen.
In an Electronic Police State, every surveillance camera (CCTVs, etc) recording, every email you send, every internet site you surf, every post you make, every check you write, every credit card swipe, every cellphone ping — are all criminal evidence, and they are held in searchable databases, for a long, long time. “Whoever holds this evidence can make you look very, very bad whenever they care enough to do so,” states the report. This system hasn’t yet reached its full shape in India, but all of the basics are in place and it is not far from complete in some places, noted the report.
