Google got 38 user data requests from Canada in 6 months

Canadian government departments, entities and agencies asked Google to hand over data about 38 users in a six-month period last year, according to a report from the internet giant.

According to its latest transparency report, Google says the statistic primarily reflects requests for user data due to criminal investigations, though it’s possible some requests did not involve criminal matters. Google received the requests for data between July and December 2010.

Google complied with 55 per cent of the requests, the report said.

The 38 requests ranked Canada low on a list of 26 countries that sought data on users. The United States was at the top of list with 4, 601 requests, followed by Brazil with 1,804 and India with 1, 699.

Google said it doesn’t always know if the requests are related to criminal investigations and that included in the statistics may be instances where a government wants information to save the life of a person in danger.

The report doesn’t say whether police services are included as government entities and it doesn’t specify what levels of government the requests came from. Federal courts are included among the statistics, Google said… Read More [via cbc]