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Google recently announced that the United States and several other Western governments drastically increased the number of censorship requests during the second half of 2011. The most recent Google Transparency Report, which is Googles fifth transparency report since 2009, indicates that the U.S. government has increased the number of censorship requests by an alarming 718%. Dorothy Chou, Googles Senior Policy Analyst, wrote in a recent Google blog post that the trend indicates free expression is at risk:

This is the fifth data set that weve released. And just like every other time before, weve been asked to take down political speech. Its alarming, not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspectWestern democracies not typically associated with censorship.

For the last three consecutive time periods reported, Google has substantially reduced the compliance rate relative to the number of requests received by the U.S. government:

July to December of 2010: 1,421 censorship requests with 87% removal January to June of 2011: 757 censorship requests with 63% removal July to December of 2011: 6,192 censorship requests with 42% removal

As the above numbers indicate, the percentage of requests that resulted in censorship dropped from 87% to 42% over an 18-month time period. Some of the recent content removal requests included the following:

Google received court orders to remove 218 search results that linked to defamatory websites. However, Google only removed 25% of the web sites. A local law enforcement agency requested that Google remove a blog post that allegedly defamed a law enforcement official, but Google chose not to comply with the request. A separate law enforcement agency requested that Google remove 1,400 YouTube videos on the grounds of harassment, but Google did not comply with the request.

Do you think the increased number of censorship requests is merely due to the increasing amount of web content and government monitoring of such content? Or do you feel that the increasing number is an indication that freedom of speech is at risk?

Sources Include: Official Google Blog, CNN, & Google Transparency Report Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Google Reports U.S. Government’s Censorship Request Volume “Alarming”

Written by Erin Vanjo Tuesday, 19 June 2012 17:54

The New York Times bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey is the most recent book to fall victim to censorship in a handful of libraries throughout the United States, but it is unlikely any books will be censored by Kent State University Libraries.

Barbara Schloman, associate dean of University Libraries, said academic libraries do not ban or censor books, and Cindy Kristof, head of Access Services for University Libraries, said there has never been a book censored by University Libraries before.

University Libraries has a collection development policy which lays out the collection parameters that are designed to guide the acquisition of materials to support university research and teaching, Schloman said.

Censorship is more likely to be seen in public libraries because the environment is very different from an academic library.

Public libraries have a much different environment, Schloman said. They are developing their collections to address the various needs and interests within the community.

While academic libraries build their collections over time, public libraries change theirs according to demand, Kristof said.

Censorship is also more common in public libraries because of differences in audience.

While collegiate libraries have to answer to university administration and the needs of the universitys community, public libraries are accountable to their library boards and to members of the community as they go for levy support, Schloman said.

Public libraries are more likely to face censorship because of the communities they serve, Kristof said. Members of the community are likely to want their library to conform to what they perceive as community standards.

See the article here:
Censorship is unlikely in University Libraries

Google exercised its belief in freedom of speech recently, turning down a censorship request by the Canadian government to remove a YouTube video showing a man urinating on his own Canadian passport.

"We received a request from the Passport Canada office to remove a YouTube video of a Canadian citizen urinating on his passport and flushing it down the toilet," the company revealed."We did not comply with this request," Google said.

Google releases fifth "Transparency Report," claimsmore information means more choice, more freedom

1,801,024 URLs requested to be removed in total

But gov't agencies top lists: In last half of 2011, U.S. gov't. agencies asked Google to censor 6,192 items

Number is increase of 718 percent vs. previous six-month period

But Google had to comply with others: The search giant claims it increasingly fields requests from government agencies trying to use their power to suppress political opinions and other material they don't like.

The details of the Canadian case were released in Google's semi-annual "transparency report" for the last half of 2011, released on Sunday. It was the U.S.-based company's fifthsince 2009, summarizing the company's responses to requests received from governments to remove links to web content alleged to be illegal, hateful, terrorism-promoting, or offensive -- an onslaught of requests that are only increasing, the company said Sunday.

"It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect -- Western democracies not typically associated with censorship," Dorothy Chou, Google's senior policy analyst, wrote in a Sunday blog post.

That comment may have been aimed at the U.S., where police prosecutors, courts and other government agencies submitted 187 requests to remove content from July through December last year, more than doubling from 92 requests from January through June.

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Google: Uptick in Censorship

Google censorship requests: The United States has asked Google to remove more items from its services than any other government in the world, the search giant revealed Sunday, showing that, in the past six months, the United States has requested the removal of 3,851 items. In second place? Germany, with 1,304.

According to a company blog post, requests from the United States have more than doubled in the past six months for an increase of 103 percent.

Takedown requests from the United States included those for the termination or removal of five YouTube accounts, 1,400 YouTube videos, 218 search results and a blog that allegedly defamed a law enforcement official in a personal capacity.

The report indicates that Google declined to comply to take down the blog post, the videos or the majority of the search results. The company did remove four YouTube accounts, which had around 300 videos, and 25 percent of the search requests.

Facebook to pay $10 million to settle sponsored stories suit: Facebook will pay $10 million in a settlement over its Sponsored Stories feature, which had some users up in arms about their privacy.

Details about Facebooks settlement with users over the social networks use of personal photos and likes emerged Saturday. As the Associated Press reported, some users said that Facebook has used their images for commercial activity. The social network said that the plaintiffs did not show that they were hurt by the feature.

The suit was settled last month, but the terms were not made public until recently.

Microsoft tablet: Microsoft is making a major announcement on Monday suspected to be the revelation of a brand-new tablet.

What, exactly, that tablet will be remains up in the air. The companys push toward Windows 8 has led to speculation that the company will show off its Windows RT tablets. Earlier speculation that Microsoft was going after the Kindle Fire cooled when Barnes and Noble told several media outlets that it would not be participating in the event.

Speculation, then, has centered on the possibility that the technology giant will venture into producing its own tablet hardware to take on Apples market-leading iPad.

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U.S. leads Google censorship requests #thecircuit

Google said censorship requests from India rose 49 percent over the last six months of 2011, compared with January-June, as a debate rages over how to constrain hate speech and copyright violations without curbing legitimate political discourse.

On Monday, Google said that it had received 101 content removal requests from Indian authorities between July and December last year, asking it to delete 255 items from its websites, the Times of India reported. Just five of these requests were made by courts, according to the newspaper.

According to the Google data, the company was asked to remove 130 items, including 77 videos on Youtube, because they were deemed defamatory, the paper said. However, only 25 items out of the total 130 had been deemed defamatory by the court system.

Read about India's partisan debate over online censorship in "Meet the Internet Hindus" on GlobalPost.

Another 25 items, including 24 videos, were considered hate speech.

"This is the fifth data set that we've released. And just like every other time before, we've been asked to take down political speech," the TOI quoted Dorothy Chou, senior policy analyst, as writing on the official Google blog. "It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect Western democracies not typically associated with censorship."

As far as removing the content was concerned, Google said it complied with 80 percent of the requests received from Indian courts. But for requests made by police or other government agencies, it complied in only 26 percent of the cases. "For the six months of data we're releasing today, we complied with an average of 65% of court orders, as opposed to 47% of more informal requests," TOI quotes Chou as writing.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/india/india-google-censorship

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India: Google notes increase in censorship requests