Google report reveals sharp increase in government requests for users' data.
The US accounted for the most requests, as it has consistently since the report was launched. US authorities asked for private details of Google users on 7,969 occasions, up from 6,321 in the last reporting period. The number is more than a third of the 20,938 requests for users' details worldwide. Google fully or partially complied with 90% of those requests. Ref. Source 3
Google starts watching what you do off the Internet too:
The most powerful company on the Internet just got a whole lot creepier: a new service from Google merges offline consumer info with online intelligence, allowing advertisers to target users based on what they do at the keyboard and at the mall. Ref. Source 9
Google encrypts data to block govt spies
Google is racing to encrypt the torrents of information that flow among its data centres around the world in a bid to thwart snooping by the NSA and the intelligence agencies of foreign governments, company officials said on Friday. Ref. Source 8
Google employs army of censors "Quality raters" to combat horrid things on the web:
The article in the Guardian covering this new development highlights its use against the usual suspect - "Holocaust denial", which is of course the thinnest and most entirely acceptable end of the wedge Ref. Source 6n.