(http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/04/google-stormtroopers-620.jpg) (http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/25/google-transparency-report-shows-censorship-spike/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget)
Governments are getting nosier than ever, at least if you ask Google. The search firm has already noticed rapidly (http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/18/google-takedown-requests-are-up/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget) mounting (http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/24/google-q4-2012-transparency-report/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget) censorship in recent months, but its latest half-year Transparency Report (http://www.engadget.com/tag/TransparencyReport/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget) has revealed a 26 percent surge in takedown requests toward the end of 2012 -- at 2,285 total, more than twice as many as in 2009. Much of the jump can be attributed to Brazil, whose municipal election triggered a rush of anti-defamation requests from candidates, as well as a Russian blacklisting law that allows for trial-free website takedowns.
Whether or not the heat dies down in 2013, we'll have a better sense of just what happens when a YouTube request comes down the pipe. From now on, Google will say whether government-based demands to remove videos were based on YouTube's Community Guidelines or were directly linked to regional laws. Google isn't any more inclined to comply with such requests -- it argues those Brazilian clips are free speech, for example -- but we'll have a better sense of just how easy it is for the company to say no.
Filed under: Internet (http://www.engadget.com/category/internet/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget), Google (http://www.engadget.com/category/google/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget)
Comments (http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/25/google-transparency-report-shows-censorship-spike/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#comments)
Via: Google Official Blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/transparency-report-more-government.html)
Source: Google Transparency Report (http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/government/)
Via: Engadget