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Facebook publishes Global Government Requests Report

Jonathan Riggall

Jonathan Riggall

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Concern about government surveillance is very high in the wake of the PRISM scandal. Facebook has published a report explaining how many requests it gets for user information from governments around the world.

The report shows us how many requests for data were made, and for how many user accounts per country. It also shows the percentage of the requests ‘in which (it was) required by law to disclose at least some data.’

Facebook publishes Global Government Requests Report

The greatest number of requests came not from Russia, but the United States, with over 10,000 requests for data about over 20,000 users (Russia made only one request). Facebook released data on 79% of those requests.

Colin Stretch, Facebook General Counsel, makes it clear that they make sure that any request meets the required legal standards before releasing any data to governments.

The report covers the first six months of 2013, and Facebook promise this will be the first of many, so we can expect to see more transparency like this from the social network.

Read the full report here.

Jonathan Riggall

Jonathan Riggall

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