Google Data » Google Public Policy Blog https://googledata.org Everything Google: News, Products, Services, Content, Culture Wed, 18 Mar 2015 18:30:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.5 A Small Rule Change That Could Give the U.S. Government Sweeping New Warrant Power https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-small-rule-change-that-could-give-the-u-s-government-sweeping-new-warrant-power/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-small-rule-change-that-could-give-the-u-s-government-sweeping-new-warrant-power https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-small-rule-change-that-could-give-the-u-s-government-sweeping-new-warrant-power/#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2015 17:45:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=7ef76dc8680ce834d788884e0069b9fa
Posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security

At the request of the Department of Justice, a little-known body -- the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure -- is proposing a significant change to procedural rules that could have profound implications for the privacy rights and security interests of everyone who uses the Internet.  Last week, Google filed comments opposing this change.

It starts with the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41, an arcane but important procedural rule on the issuance of search warrants.  Today, Rule 41 prohibits a federal judge from issuing a search warrant outside of the judge’s district, with some exceptions.  The Advisory Committee’s proposed change would significantly expand those exceptions in cases involving computers and networks.  The proposed change would allow the U.S. government to obtain a warrant to conduct “remote access” searches of electronic storage media if the physical location of the media is “concealed through technological means,” or to facilitate botnet investigations in certain circumstances.  

The implications of this expansion of warrant power are significant, and are better addressed by Congress.  

First, in setting aside the traditional limits under Rule 41, the proposed amendment would likely end up being used by U.S. authorities to directly search computers and devices around the world.  Even if the intent of the proposed change is to permit U.S. authorities to obtain a warrant to directly access and retrieve data only from computers and devices within the U.S., there is nothing in the proposed change to Rule 41 that would prevent access to computers and devices worldwide.

The U.S. has many diplomatic arrangements in place with other countries to cooperate in investigations that cross national borders, including Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs).  Google supports ongoing efforts to improve cooperation among governments, and we are concerned that the proposed change to Rule 41 could undermine those efforts.  The significant foreign relations issues associated with the proposed change to Rule 41 should be addressed by Congress and the President, not the Advisory Committee.

Second, the proposed change threatens to undermine the privacy rights and computer security of Internet users.  For example, the change would excuse territorial limits on the use of warrants to conduct “remote access” searches where the physical location of the media is “concealed through technological means.”  The proposed change does not define what a “remote search” is or under what circumstances and conditions a remote search can be undertaken; it merely assumes such searches, whatever they may be, are constitutional and otherwise legal.  It carries with it the specter of government hacking without any Congressional debate or democratic policymaking process.  

Likewise, the change seemingly means that the limit on warrants is excused in any instance where a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is set up.  Banks, online retailers, communications providers and other businesses around the world commonly use VPNs to help keep their networks and users’ information secure.  A VPN can obscure the actual location of a network, however, and thus could be subject to a remote search warrant where it would not have been otherwise.   
 
The Advisory Committee is entertaining a dramatic change to electronic surveillance rules.  Congress is the proper body to determine whether such changes are warranted, and we urge the Committee to respect Congress’ traditional role in prescribing the substantive rules governing electronic surveillance.
]]>
Posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security

At the request of the Department of Justice, a little-known body -- the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure -- is proposing a significant change to procedural rules that could have profound implications for the privacy rights and security interests of everyone who uses the Internet.  Last week, Google filed comments opposing this change.

It starts with the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41, an arcane but important procedural rule on the issuance of search warrants.  Today, Rule 41 prohibits a federal judge from issuing a search warrant outside of the judge’s district, with some exceptions.  The Advisory Committee’s proposed change would significantly expand those exceptions in cases involving computers and networks.  The proposed change would allow the U.S. government to obtain a warrant to conduct “remote access” searches of electronic storage media if the physical location of the media is “concealed through technological means,” or to facilitate botnet investigations in certain circumstances.  

The implications of this expansion of warrant power are significant, and are better addressed by Congress.  

First, in setting aside the traditional limits under Rule 41, the proposed amendment would likely end up being used by U.S. authorities to directly search computers and devices around the world.  Even if the intent of the proposed change is to permit U.S. authorities to obtain a warrant to directly access and retrieve data only from computers and devices within the U.S., there is nothing in the proposed change to Rule 41 that would prevent access to computers and devices worldwide.

The U.S. has many diplomatic arrangements in place with other countries to cooperate in investigations that cross national borders, including Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs).  Google supports ongoing efforts to improve cooperation among governments, and we are concerned that the proposed change to Rule 41 could undermine those efforts.  The significant foreign relations issues associated with the proposed change to Rule 41 should be addressed by Congress and the President, not the Advisory Committee.

Second, the proposed change threatens to undermine the privacy rights and computer security of Internet users.  For example, the change would excuse territorial limits on the use of warrants to conduct “remote access” searches where the physical location of the media is “concealed through technological means.”  The proposed change does not define what a “remote search” is or under what circumstances and conditions a remote search can be undertaken; it merely assumes such searches, whatever they may be, are constitutional and otherwise legal.  It carries with it the specter of government hacking without any Congressional debate or democratic policymaking process.  

Likewise, the change seemingly means that the limit on warrants is excused in any instance where a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is set up.  Banks, online retailers, communications providers and other businesses around the world commonly use VPNs to help keep their networks and users’ information secure.  A VPN can obscure the actual location of a network, however, and thus could be subject to a remote search warrant where it would not have been otherwise.   
 
The Advisory Committee is entertaining a dramatic change to electronic surveillance rules.  Congress is the proper body to determine whether such changes are warranted, and we urge the Committee to respect Congress’ traditional role in prescribing the substantive rules governing electronic surveillance.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-small-rule-change-that-could-give-the-u-s-government-sweeping-new-warrant-power/feed/ 0 The Impacts of Data Localization on Cybersecurity https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-impacts-of-data-localization-on-cybersecurity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-impacts-of-data-localization-on-cybersecurity https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-impacts-of-data-localization-on-cybersecurity/#comments Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:39:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=7bb83b3d3dba761eb0e230489820fbe8
Earlier this week, Leviathan Security released their latest piece of research, called the Value of Cloud Security. This research takes a close look at cloud infrastructure security and how it's impacted by forced data localization. Google commissioned the study and discussed the results with Leviathan, but Leviathan alone is responsible for the analysis and conclusions.


When companies take advantage of cloud services, they get more secure systems as a result. Many countries, however, have proposed laws requiring that companies keep the data of that country’s users within national borders. This idea, known as “data localization,” purports to keep citizen users safer and out of the hands of spying governments and hackers. The report found that forced data localization actually undermines many of the benefits that come from cloud services:


  • Cloud services provide much better resiliency and redundancy than local services in the face of disasters of all sizes, from small transformer explosions that affect 30,000 users up to superstorms the size of Thaiphoon Haiyan that can interrupt entire countries. If data has to stay in one place by law, that redundancy is lost.
  • Security expertise is in short supply and tends to congregate in large organizations and sharing what expertise there is is better for everyone as a whole. E.g. - There are currently over a million unfilled security positions open worldwide and all of the GCHQ-led cybersecurity programs together will graduate just 66 PhD's per year starting in 2017. Small companies that are forced to host their own data will find it hard to compete to hire qualified security engineers.

If policymakers are thinking about the perceived benefits of datalocalization, they should carefully examine this study and take into account the cybersecurity of their country’s enterprises.You can check out  the full studies on Leviathan’s blog.
]]>
Earlier this week, Leviathan Security released their latest piece of research, called the Value of Cloud Security. This research takes a close look at cloud infrastructure security and how it's impacted by forced data localization. Google commissioned the study and discussed the results with Leviathan, but Leviathan alone is responsible for the analysis and conclusions.


When companies take advantage of cloud services, they get more secure systems as a result. Many countries, however, have proposed laws requiring that companies keep the data of that country’s users within national borders. This idea, known as “data localization,” purports to keep citizen users safer and out of the hands of spying governments and hackers. The report found that forced data localization actually undermines many of the benefits that come from cloud services:


  • Cloud services provide much better resiliency and redundancy than local services in the face of disasters of all sizes, from small transformer explosions that affect 30,000 users up to superstorms the size of Thaiphoon Haiyan that can interrupt entire countries. If data has to stay in one place by law, that redundancy is lost.
  • Security expertise is in short supply and tends to congregate in large organizations and sharing what expertise there is is better for everyone as a whole. E.g. - There are currently over a million unfilled security positions open worldwide and all of the GCHQ-led cybersecurity programs together will graduate just 66 PhD's per year starting in 2017. Small companies that are forced to host their own data will find it hard to compete to hire qualified security engineers.

If policymakers are thinking about the perceived benefits of datalocalization, they should carefully examine this study and take into account the cybersecurity of their country’s enterprises.You can check out  the full studies on Leviathan’s blog.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-impacts-of-data-localization-on-cybersecurity/feed/ 0 Apply for a 2015 North America Google Policy Fellowship https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/apply-for-a-2015-north-america-google-policy-fellowship/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apply-for-a-2015-north-america-google-policy-fellowship https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/apply-for-a-2015-north-america-google-policy-fellowship/#comments Wed, 11 Feb 2015 20:37:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=619ac1e5f8031cf280b0ba381f479b48 Last summer, students from all over the US and Canada gathered to explore pressing questions at the intersection of technology and policy. Whether working on data security standards at the National Consumers League or innovation economy issues at the R Street Institute, students gained hands-on experience tackling critical technology policy questions.

2015 is just beginning, but these issues show no signs of slowing down. We’re excited to announce the 8th annual Google Policy Fellowship, which connects students interested in emerging technology policy issues with leading nonprofits, think tanks, and advocacy groups.

Applications are open today for North America, and students of all levels and disciplines are welcome to apply before Thursday, March 12th.

This year’s organizations include: 
  • American Association of People with Disabilities
  • American Enterprise Institute
  • American Library Association
  • Center for Democracy and Technology
  • Center for Data Innovation
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Engine
  • Future of Music Coalition
  • Georgetown Center on Privacy & Technology
  • Global Network Initiative
  • Internet Education Foundation
  • Internet Keep Safe Coalition
  • Mercatus
  • National Consumers League
  • National Hispanic Media Coalition
  • Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
  • Public Knowledge
  • R Street Institute
  • Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic
  • TechFreedom
  • Technology Policy Institute
  • The Citizen Lab
  • US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

More fellowship opportunities in Asia, Africa, and Europe will be coming soon. You can learn about the program, application process and host organizations on the Google Public Policy Fellowship website.
]]> Last summer, students from all over the US and Canada gathered to explore pressing questions at the intersection of technology and policy. Whether working on data security standards at the National Consumers League or innovation economy issues at the R Street Institute, students gained hands-on experience tackling critical technology policy questions.

2015 is just beginning, but these issues show no signs of slowing down. We’re excited to announce the 8th annual Google Policy Fellowship, which connects students interested in emerging technology policy issues with leading nonprofits, think tanks, and advocacy groups.

Applications are open today for North America, and students of all levels and disciplines are welcome to apply before Thursday, March 12th.

This year’s organizations include: 
  • American Association of People with Disabilities
  • American Enterprise Institute
  • American Library Association
  • Center for Democracy and Technology
  • Center for Data Innovation
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • Engine
  • Future of Music Coalition
  • Georgetown Center on Privacy & Technology
  • Global Network Initiative
  • Internet Education Foundation
  • Internet Keep Safe Coalition
  • Mercatus
  • National Consumers League
  • National Hispanic Media Coalition
  • Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
  • Public Knowledge
  • R Street Institute
  • Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic
  • TechFreedom
  • Technology Policy Institute
  • The Citizen Lab
  • US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

More fellowship opportunities in Asia, Africa, and Europe will be coming soon. You can learn about the program, application process and host organizations on the Google Public Policy Fellowship website.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/apply-for-a-2015-north-america-google-policy-fellowship/feed/ 0 The House of Representatives steps up the fight against human trafficking https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-house-of-representatives-steps-up-the-fight-against-human-trafficking/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-house-of-representatives-steps-up-the-fight-against-human-trafficking https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-house-of-representatives-steps-up-the-fight-against-human-trafficking/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2015 16:32:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=8cbb9ace161a1f621e93385c916078e6
Posted by Susan Molinari, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy

There are few issues more horrifying than human slavery and trafficking. Yesterday, the House of Representatives took important steps to address these issues by passing twelve bills aimed at helping the victims and calling attention to these criminal acts. We are encouraged by the actions taken yesterday and applaud the House’s leadership.

We recently heard about a number of these bills from Members of both the House and Senate at an event Google hosted with the McCain Institute and Rights4Girls. In addition to the launch of the No Such Thing campaign to eradicate the term “child prostitute,” we heard from organizations on the frontlines of the modern anti-trafficking movement, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Polaris, and Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children, about how they are using technology to stop human trafficking and help those who have been trafficked. You can watch the event here and here.

Collaboration and technology are key weapons in the fight. That’s why Google recently launched a new feature in our search results with Polaris, connecting victims of human trafficking with organizations who can help. We also worked with Polaris, La Strada International, and Liberty Asia to launch the Global Human Trafficking Hotline Network, to connect global hotlines and better help victims and prevention efforts. Google also has a zero-tolerance policy for any ads for paid sex acts, and we work around the clock to fight illegal content and abuse on our platforms.

Fighting human slavery and trafficking is not a partisan issue. The more voices who say it is morally unacceptable to enslave and exploit humans, the more we can reduce the demand and help the victims. There’s more work to be done, so let’s keep going — together.
]]>
Posted by Susan Molinari, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy

There are few issues more horrifying than human slavery and trafficking. Yesterday, the House of Representatives took important steps to address these issues by passing twelve bills aimed at helping the victims and calling attention to these criminal acts. We are encouraged by the actions taken yesterday and applaud the House’s leadership.

We recently heard about a number of these bills from Members of both the House and Senate at an event Google hosted with the McCain Institute and Rights4Girls. In addition to the launch of the No Such Thing campaign to eradicate the term “child prostitute,” we heard from organizations on the frontlines of the modern anti-trafficking movement, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Polaris, and Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children, about how they are using technology to stop human trafficking and help those who have been trafficked. You can watch the event here and here.

Collaboration and technology are key weapons in the fight. That’s why Google recently launched a new feature in our search results with Polaris, connecting victims of human trafficking with organizations who can help. We also worked with Polaris, La Strada International, and Liberty Asia to launch the Global Human Trafficking Hotline Network, to connect global hotlines and better help victims and prevention efforts. Google also has a zero-tolerance policy for any ads for paid sex acts, and we work around the clock to fight illegal content and abuse on our platforms.

Fighting human slavery and trafficking is not a partisan issue. The more voices who say it is morally unacceptable to enslave and exploit humans, the more we can reduce the demand and help the victims. There’s more work to be done, so let’s keep going — together.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-house-of-representatives-steps-up-the-fight-against-human-trafficking/feed/ 0 UPDATE: Helping Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery Victims Around the World https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/update-helping-human-trafficking-and-modern-day-slavery-victims-around-the-world/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=update-helping-human-trafficking-and-modern-day-slavery-victims-around-the-world https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/update-helping-human-trafficking-and-modern-day-slavery-victims-around-the-world/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2015 20:14:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=e619541191622df734dd78cf117ebe51
According to the U.S. Trafficking In Persons Report, there may be more than 20 million trafficking victims at any time in the world, but only about 40,000 victims are identified each year. To connect victims of human trafficking to the organizations who can help them, we recently launched a new feature that displays human trafficking hotline numbers when users type in relevant keywords in search.

In July 2014, we launched this feature for the U.S., Japan and South Korea and today we are making it available in 9 more countries in 14 different languages. From working with our partners across the globe, we know that these hotlines play an indispensable role in the fight against human trafficking. Victims may be unfamiliar with support agencies or organizations in their area or unaware there is help available at all.

These hotlines can make life-changing connections to services like crisis response, emergency housing, counseling, and legal aid at the moment victims need them. Confidential hotlines make certain victims receive the anonymity and protection they need to stay safe.


This search feature was made possible because of the work the following organizations do every day to fight human trafficking around the world: Polaris (US), Lighthouse Support Center for Human Trafficking Victims (Japan), Dasi Hamkke Center (South Korea), Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation (Taiwan), La Strada (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova, Poland and Ukraine), The A21 Campaign (Greece), ASTRA Anti-Trafficking Action (Serbia), and International Organization for Migration (Turkey).

Since the launch, this feature has already helped National Human Trafficking Resource Center to identify at least 25 human trafficking cases in the U.S. We hope that many more human trafficking victims and potential victims will be able to discover the help that they need when they need it.

Posted by Kasumi Widner, Program Manager, Social Impact and Chris Busselle, Principal, Google.org
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/update-helping-human-trafficking-and-modern-day-slavery-victims-around-the-world/feed/ 0 Transparency Report: New numbers and a new look for government requests https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-new-numbers-and-a-new-look-for-government-requests/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=transparency-report-new-numbers-and-a-new-look-for-government-requests https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-new-numbers-and-a-new-look-for-government-requests/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:26:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=30843de18d5308ba255580e9d57d73f5
We launched the Transparency Report in 2010 to show how laws and policies affect access to information online, including law enforcement orders for user data and government requests to remove information. Since then, many other companies have launched their own transparency reports, and we’ve been excited to see our industry come together around transparency.

After doing things the same way for nearly five years, we thought it was time to give the Transparency Report an update. So today, as we release data about requests from governments to remove content from our services for the ninth time, we’re doing it with a new look and some new features that we hope will make the information more meaningful, and continue to push the envelope on the story we can tell with this kind of information.

More about that shortly—first, the data highlights. From June to December 2013, we received 3,105 government requests to remove 14,637 pieces of content. You may notice that this total decreased slightly from the first half of 2013; this is due to a spike in requests from Turkey during that period, which has since returned to lower levels. Meanwhile, the number of requests from Russia increased by 25 percent compared to the last reporting period. Requests from Thailand and Italy are on the rise as well. In the second half of 2013, the top three products for which governments requested removals were Blogger (1,066 requests), Search (841 requests) and YouTube (765 requests). In the second half of 2013, 38 percent of government removal requests cited defamation as a reason for removal, 16 percent cited obscenity or nudity, and 11 percent cited privacy or security.

As for the redesign, we’ve worked with our friends at Blue State Digital on a more interactive Transparency Report that lets us include additional information—like explanations of our process—and highlight stats. We’ve also added examples of nearly 30 actual requests we’ve received from governments around the world. For example, we have an annotation that gives a bit of descriptive information about our first government request from Kosovo, when law enforcement requested the removal of two YouTube videos showing minors fighting. If you’re looking for details on the content types and reasons for removal, use the Country explorer to dig into those details for each of the listed countries.*

Our Transparency Report is certainly not a comprehensive view of censorship online. However, it does provide a lens on the things that governments and courts ask us to remove, underscoring the importance of transparency around the processes governing such requests. We hope that you'll take the time to explore the new report to learn more about the government removals across Google.

*Update Jan 16: We updated the 'Country Explorer' section of the Transparency Report on January 16, 2015 to correct inaccuracies in the initially reported Government Requests figures.]]>
We launched the Transparency Report in 2010 to show how laws and policies affect access to information online, including law enforcement orders for user data and government requests to remove information. Since then, many other companies have launched their own transparency reports, and we’ve been excited to see our industry come together around transparency.

After doing things the same way for nearly five years, we thought it was time to give the Transparency Report an update. So today, as we release data about requests from governments to remove content from our services for the ninth time, we’re doing it with a new look and some new features that we hope will make the information more meaningful, and continue to push the envelope on the story we can tell with this kind of information.

More about that shortly—first, the data highlights. From June to December 2013, we received 3,105 government requests to remove 14,637 pieces of content. You may notice that this total decreased slightly from the first half of 2013; this is due to a spike in requests from Turkey during that period, which has since returned to lower levels. Meanwhile, the number of requests from Russia increased by 25 percent compared to the last reporting period. Requests from Thailand and Italy are on the rise as well. In the second half of 2013, the top three products for which governments requested removals were Blogger (1,066 requests), Search (841 requests) and YouTube (765 requests). In the second half of 2013, 38 percent of government removal requests cited defamation as a reason for removal, 16 percent cited obscenity or nudity, and 11 percent cited privacy or security.

As for the redesign, we’ve worked with our friends at Blue State Digital on a more interactive Transparency Report that lets us include additional information—like explanations of our process—and highlight stats. We’ve also added examples of nearly 30 actual requests we’ve received from governments around the world. For example, we have an annotation that gives a bit of descriptive information about our first government request from Kosovo, when law enforcement requested the removal of two YouTube videos showing minors fighting. If you’re looking for details on the content types and reasons for removal, use the Country explorer to dig into those details for each of the listed countries.*

Our Transparency Report is certainly not a comprehensive view of censorship online. However, it does provide a lens on the things that governments and courts ask us to remove, underscoring the importance of transparency around the processes governing such requests. We hope that you'll take the time to explore the new report to learn more about the government removals across Google.

*Update Jan 16: We updated the 'Country Explorer' section of the Transparency Report on January 16, 2015 to correct inaccuracies in the initially reported Government Requests figures.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-new-numbers-and-a-new-look-for-government-requests/feed/ 0 Powerful new tools in Arabic and English for constitution drafters and citizens https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/powerful-new-tools-in-arabic-and-english-for-constitution-drafters-and-citizens/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=powerful-new-tools-in-arabic-and-english-for-constitution-drafters-and-citizens https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/powerful-new-tools-in-arabic-and-english-for-constitution-drafters-and-citizens/#comments Mon, 15 Dec 2014 16:18:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=1f4a03cd27b2d1c332e5e83ffc5ca1fa
Those who write (and re-write) national constitutions naturally learn and draw from the work of other drafters. Constitute, a website that digitizes and indexes the world’s constitutions which Google Ideas launched in 2013 with the Comparative Constitutions Project, has made this process even easier.

Today marks the launch of Constitute in Arabic, which promises to make the process of constitutional drafting and analysis more accessible across the Arab world. The site now provides Arabic translations of some of the world’s most-cited constitutions, coupled with powerful analytical tools.

We’re also introducing new, powerful features across the English and Arabic versions of the site. A new “compare” functionality lets you view two constitutions side-by-side, inviting an entirely different perspective. Curious how the Japanese Constitution of 1946, drafted under U.S. occupation, compares to that of the U.S.?  View them side-by-side and compare them provision by provision (for example, on the topic of search and seizure rights) in a clean, easy-to-read layout.
Screen Shot 2014-12-09 at 3.27.57 PM.png

Constitute also includes new options for saving and sharing content. You can now pin constitutional excerpts, comparisons and entire searches, and export the results to for easy collaborative drafting, reading or analysis. You can also share to social media, or send links to specific locations in any of the documents—for example, explore which African constitutions have provisions on gender equality. 

Finally, developers and data enthusiasts—and their machine counterparts—will be able to build upon Constitute’s underlying data through an open data portal which includes access to Constitute’s API.

On average, five new constitutions are written every year and even more are amended. Creating a document to serve as the bedrock of one’s society is a huge undertaking, which is why Google Ideas collaborated with the Comparative Constitutions Project to seed Constitute in 2013. We hope today’s additions to Constitute will help equip constitutional drafters and citizens of every country with the remarkable power of knowledge.

Posted by Brett Perlmutter, Special Projects Lead, Google Ideas
]]>
Those who write (and re-write) national constitutions naturally learn and draw from the work of other drafters. Constitute, a website that digitizes and indexes the world’s constitutions which Google Ideas launched in 2013 with the Comparative Constitutions Project, has made this process even easier.

Today marks the launch of Constitute in Arabic, which promises to make the process of constitutional drafting and analysis more accessible across the Arab world. The site now provides Arabic translations of some of the world’s most-cited constitutions, coupled with powerful analytical tools.

We’re also introducing new, powerful features across the English and Arabic versions of the site. A new “compare” functionality lets you view two constitutions side-by-side, inviting an entirely different perspective. Curious how the Japanese Constitution of 1946, drafted under U.S. occupation, compares to that of the U.S.?  View them side-by-side and compare them provision by provision (for example, on the topic of search and seizure rights) in a clean, easy-to-read layout.
Screen Shot 2014-12-09 at 3.27.57 PM.png

Constitute also includes new options for saving and sharing content. You can now pin constitutional excerpts, comparisons and entire searches, and export the results to for easy collaborative drafting, reading or analysis. You can also share to social media, or send links to specific locations in any of the documents—for example, explore which African constitutions have provisions on gender equality. 

Finally, developers and data enthusiasts—and their machine counterparts—will be able to build upon Constitute’s underlying data through an open data portal which includes access to Constitute’s API.

On average, five new constitutions are written every year and even more are amended. Creating a document to serve as the bedrock of one’s society is a huge undertaking, which is why Google Ideas collaborated with the Comparative Constitutions Project to seed Constitute in 2013. We hope today’s additions to Constitute will help equip constitutional drafters and citizens of every country with the remarkable power of knowledge.

Posted by Brett Perlmutter, Special Projects Lead, Google Ideas
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/powerful-new-tools-in-arabic-and-english-for-constitution-drafters-and-citizens/feed/ 0 Tackling Teen Substance Abuse: New Online Tools for Families Seeking Answers https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/tackling-teen-substance-abuse-new-online-tools-for-families-seeking-answers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tackling-teen-substance-abuse-new-online-tools-for-families-seeking-answers https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/tackling-teen-substance-abuse-new-online-tools-for-families-seeking-answers/#comments Thu, 20 Nov 2014 21:09:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=7eceda78a8f1146ef52f90df2d5f0984
Earlier this year, we began working with the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids to help people find helpful information about substance abuse online.  This is a guest post from their President and CEO, Steve Pasierb, describing our efforts together and the organization’s ongoing work to keep teens safe. -Ed


The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids is dedicated to reducing teen substance abuse and helping families impacted by addiction. We are the only family-focused nonprofit that provides resources and direct support to help families prevent and cope with teen drug and alcohol abuse.


The modern path to substance abuse looks very different than it did when today's parents were teens themselves. As we all know, people are spending more of their time online, across a variety of connected devices.  As a result, it’s increasingly important for our information to be accessible anytime, on the web and in mobile apps.


Thanks to a recent donation from Google, we’ve created innovative new content and tools that will help countless families find answers in the midst of a crisis, or before one ever happens.


Since beginning our work together in April, Google has funded search advertising campaigns, helped develop a mobile app with substance abuse-related information, improved our website, and plans to revamp our YouTube channel.  All of this is complemented by their ongoing efforts to fight rogue online pharmacies — Google has removed more than 7 million ads for these outfits this year alone. This work makes it harder for people to buy controlled substances online without a valid prescription, thereby reducing illicit access to these medications and reducing abuse.  

Search advertising campaigns funded by Google


D1.png D2.png
Users will be able to find information about substance-abuse including: images, common slang terms, short- and long-term effects of each drug, and how to get help in our upcoming mobile app

Our national action campaign, the Medicine Abuse Project, is rallying parents, educators, health care providers, communities, and law enforcement to collectively help prevent half a million teens from abusing prescription drugs and over-the-counter cough medicine.  Thanks to invaluable partners like Google, we are able to expand our reach, sharpen our tools and help parents navigate the teen years with help at their fingertips.

Posted by Steve Pasierb, President and CEO, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
]]>
Earlier this year, we began working with the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids to help people find helpful information about substance abuse online.  This is a guest post from their President and CEO, Steve Pasierb, describing our efforts together and the organization’s ongoing work to keep teens safe. -Ed


The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids is dedicated to reducing teen substance abuse and helping families impacted by addiction. We are the only family-focused nonprofit that provides resources and direct support to help families prevent and cope with teen drug and alcohol abuse.


The modern path to substance abuse looks very different than it did when today's parents were teens themselves. As we all know, people are spending more of their time online, across a variety of connected devices.  As a result, it’s increasingly important for our information to be accessible anytime, on the web and in mobile apps.


Thanks to a recent donation from Google, we’ve created innovative new content and tools that will help countless families find answers in the midst of a crisis, or before one ever happens.


Since beginning our work together in April, Google has funded search advertising campaigns, helped develop a mobile app with substance abuse-related information, improved our website, and plans to revamp our YouTube channel.  All of this is complemented by their ongoing efforts to fight rogue online pharmacies — Google has removed more than 7 million ads for these outfits this year alone. This work makes it harder for people to buy controlled substances online without a valid prescription, thereby reducing illicit access to these medications and reducing abuse.  

Search advertising campaigns funded by Google


D1.png D2.png
Users will be able to find information about substance-abuse including: images, common slang terms, short- and long-term effects of each drug, and how to get help in our upcoming mobile app

Our national action campaign, the Medicine Abuse Project, is rallying parents, educators, health care providers, communities, and law enforcement to collectively help prevent half a million teens from abusing prescription drugs and over-the-counter cough medicine.  Thanks to invaluable partners like Google, we are able to expand our reach, sharpen our tools and help parents navigate the teen years with help at their fingertips.

Posted by Steve Pasierb, President and CEO, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/tackling-teen-substance-abuse-new-online-tools-for-families-seeking-answers/feed/ 0 Investigathon: Helping investigative journalists access information through the Investigative Dashboard https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/investigathon-helping-investigative-journalists-access-information-through-the-investigative-dashboard/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=investigathon-helping-investigative-journalists-access-information-through-the-investigative-dashboard https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/investigathon-helping-investigative-journalists-access-information-through-the-investigative-dashboard/#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2014 15:43:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=761a61d2c9a1c2665fc104cedb2dae01
As the old saying goes, “News is something somebody wants to suppress. All the rest is advertising.” We agree: Investigative journalism is a crucial pillar of free societies. That’s why we’re holding an “Investigathon” in New York City to share and practice new ways to make investigations more powerful.

It all starts with data. With the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, we’ve built the Investigative Dashboard to help investigators trace shell company ownership around the world. At the Investigathon, 100 investigators of all stripes will spend the afternoon learning to use the Dashboard and other datasets to trace Eastern European money laundering activities. So many public records are already available to search, sometimes it’s just a question of knowing how to look.

Data only goes so far without tools. That’s why we’ve also been working with Overview Project to make it easier to sift through huge volumes of business records. The world doesn’t need more isolated platforms, so Overview Project will soon have standardized APIs to integrate directly into the Investigative Dashboard, Visual Investigative Scenarios, and beyond.

Finally, knowledge spreads through personal relationships based on trust, so we’re hoping to play a small role in strengthening the investigative journalism community on the East Coast. When we held our inaugural Investigathon in London, there was so much enthusiasm that Hacks/Hackers, Bellingcat, and OCCRP decided to run six-month series of follow-up workshops and convenings to support the work we started there.

The challenges of investigative journalists are immense, and the forces arranged against them are formidable. But if people are to have free and open access to the truths about their societies, investigators must stay one step ahead of those who would want to suppress that information. We aim to help, one step at a time.

Posted by Justin Kosslyn, Product Manager, Google Ideas

]]>
As the old saying goes, “News is something somebody wants to suppress. All the rest is advertising.” We agree: Investigative journalism is a crucial pillar of free societies. That’s why we’re holding an “Investigathon” in New York City to share and practice new ways to make investigations more powerful.

It all starts with data. With the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, we’ve built the Investigative Dashboard to help investigators trace shell company ownership around the world. At the Investigathon, 100 investigators of all stripes will spend the afternoon learning to use the Dashboard and other datasets to trace Eastern European money laundering activities. So many public records are already available to search, sometimes it’s just a question of knowing how to look.

Data only goes so far without tools. That’s why we’ve also been working with Overview Project to make it easier to sift through huge volumes of business records. The world doesn’t need more isolated platforms, so Overview Project will soon have standardized APIs to integrate directly into the Investigative Dashboard, Visual Investigative Scenarios, and beyond.

Finally, knowledge spreads through personal relationships based on trust, so we’re hoping to play a small role in strengthening the investigative journalism community on the East Coast. When we held our inaugural Investigathon in London, there was so much enthusiasm that Hacks/Hackers, Bellingcat, and OCCRP decided to run six-month series of follow-up workshops and convenings to support the work we started there.

The challenges of investigative journalists are immense, and the forces arranged against them are formidable. But if people are to have free and open access to the truths about their societies, investigators must stay one step ahead of those who would want to suppress that information. We aim to help, one step at a time.

Posted by Justin Kosslyn, Product Manager, Google Ideas

]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/investigathon-helping-investigative-journalists-access-information-through-the-investigative-dashboard/feed/ 0 It’s time to extend the US Privacy Act to EU citizens https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/its-time-to-extend-the-us-privacy-act-to-eu-citizens/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=its-time-to-extend-the-us-privacy-act-to-eu-citizens https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/its-time-to-extend-the-us-privacy-act-to-eu-citizens/#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2014 13:07:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=983693045b5abeb8d20429033d0a0f5b Cross-posted from the Google Europe Blog 

Last summer’s Snowden revelations not only highlighted the urgent need for surveillance reform but also severely damaged relations between the US and Europe.

Google and many other technology companies have urged the US to take the lead and introduce reforms that ensure government surveillance activity is clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight. Sadly, we’ve seen little serious reform to date.

However, the US Government can signal a new attitude when representatives of the European Commission visit Washington DC tomorrow. Right now, European citizens do not have the right to challenge misuse of their data by the US government in US courts -- even though American citizens already enjoy this right in most European countries. It’s why Google supports legislation to extend the US Privacy Act to EU citizens. The Obama Administration has already pledged its support for this change and we look forward to to working with Congress to try and make this happen.

We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. The emergence of ISIS and other new threats have reminded us all of the dangers we face. But the balance in the US and many other countries has tipped too far in favour of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As President Obama recently instructed his Intelligence agencies: “All persons should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their nationality or wherever they might reside, and that all persons have legitimate privacy interests in the handling of their personal information.”

Posted by David Drummond Chief Legal Officer, Google]]> Cross-posted from the Google Europe Blog 

Last summer’s Snowden revelations not only highlighted the urgent need for surveillance reform but also severely damaged relations between the US and Europe.

Google and many other technology companies have urged the US to take the lead and introduce reforms that ensure government surveillance activity is clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight. Sadly, we’ve seen little serious reform to date.

However, the US Government can signal a new attitude when representatives of the European Commission visit Washington DC tomorrow. Right now, European citizens do not have the right to challenge misuse of their data by the US government in US courts -- even though American citizens already enjoy this right in most European countries. It’s why Google supports legislation to extend the US Privacy Act to EU citizens. The Obama Administration has already pledged its support for this change and we look forward to to working with Congress to try and make this happen.

We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. The emergence of ISIS and other new threats have reminded us all of the dangers we face. But the balance in the US and many other countries has tipped too far in favour of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As President Obama recently instructed his Intelligence agencies: “All persons should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their nationality or wherever they might reside, and that all persons have legitimate privacy interests in the handling of their personal information.”

Posted by David Drummond Chief Legal Officer, Google]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/its-time-to-extend-the-us-privacy-act-to-eu-citizens/feed/ 0 Continued progress on fighting piracy https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/continued-progress-on-fighting-piracy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=continued-progress-on-fighting-piracy https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/continued-progress-on-fighting-piracy/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2014 14:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=09a7cc918156051f6862f23811618c50
Today we’re publishing a refreshed How Google Fights Piracy report, which explains how we combat piracy across our services. This new version updates many of the numbers from the 2013 version and lists a few other developments in the past year:
  • Ad formats. We’ve been testing new ad formats in search results on queries related to music and movies that help people find legitimate sources of media. For the relatively small number of queries for movies that include terms like “download,”  “free,” or “watch,” we’ve begun to show the following:
Screen Shot 2014-10-10 at 10.58.15 AM.png
We’re also testing other ways of pointing people to legitimate sources of music and movies, including in the right-hand panel on the results page:
Screen Shot 2014-10-16 at 7.21.39 PM (1).png
These results show in the U.S. only, but we plan to continue investing in this area and plan to expand internationally.
  • An improved DMCA demotion signal in Search. In August 2012 we first announced that we would downrank sites for which we received a large number of valid DMCA notices. We’ve now refined the signal in ways we expect to visibly affect the rankings of some of the most notorious sites. This update will roll out globally starting next week.
  • Removing more terms from autocomplete, based on DMCA removal notices. We’ve begun demoting autocomplete predictions that return results with many DMCA demoted sites.

Every day our partnership with the entertainment industry deepens. Just this month we launched a collaboration with Paramount Pictures to promote their upcoming film “Interstellar” with an interactive website. And Content ID (our system for rightsholders to easily identify and manage their content on YouTube) recently hit the milestone of enabling more than $1 billion in revenue to the content industry.

In addition to strengthening these relationships, we continue to invest in combating piracy across all our services.

Posted by Katherine Oyama, Sr. Copyright Policy Counsel

]]>
Today we’re publishing a refreshed How Google Fights Piracy report, which explains how we combat piracy across our services. This new version updates many of the numbers from the 2013 version and lists a few other developments in the past year:
  • Ad formats. We’ve been testing new ad formats in search results on queries related to music and movies that help people find legitimate sources of media. For the relatively small number of queries for movies that include terms like “download,”  “free,” or “watch,” we’ve begun to show the following:
Screen Shot 2014-10-10 at 10.58.15 AM.png
We’re also testing other ways of pointing people to legitimate sources of music and movies, including in the right-hand panel on the results page:
Screen Shot 2014-10-16 at 7.21.39 PM (1).png
These results show in the U.S. only, but we plan to continue investing in this area and plan to expand internationally.
  • An improved DMCA demotion signal in Search. In August 2012 we first announced that we would downrank sites for which we received a large number of valid DMCA notices. We’ve now refined the signal in ways we expect to visibly affect the rankings of some of the most notorious sites. This update will roll out globally starting next week.
  • Removing more terms from autocomplete, based on DMCA removal notices. We’ve begun demoting autocomplete predictions that return results with many DMCA demoted sites.

Every day our partnership with the entertainment industry deepens. Just this month we launched a collaboration with Paramount Pictures to promote their upcoming film “Interstellar” with an interactive website. And Content ID (our system for rightsholders to easily identify and manage their content on YouTube) recently hit the milestone of enabling more than $1 billion in revenue to the content industry.

In addition to strengthening these relationships, we continue to invest in combating piracy across all our services.

Posted by Katherine Oyama, Sr. Copyright Policy Counsel

]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/continued-progress-on-fighting-piracy/feed/ 0 Launching YouTube for Government https://googledata.org/youtube/launching-youtube-for-government/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=launching-youtube-for-government https://googledata.org/youtube/launching-youtube-for-government/#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2014 14:06:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=98a70654d97a508f3e018004aa52fd13 Cross-posted from the Google Politics & Elections Blog

Posted by Brandon Feldman, YouTube News & Politics


From live streams of the State of the Union and legislative hearings, to explainer videos on important issues and Hangouts with constituents, YouTube has become an important platform where citizens engage with their governments and elected officials.


In order to help government officials get a better idea of what YouTube can do, we are launching youtube.com/government101, a one-stop shop where government officials can learn how to get the most out of YouTube as a communication tool.



The site offers a broad range of YouTube advice, from the basics of creating a channel to in-depth guidance on features like live streaming, annotations, playlists and more. We’ve also featured case studies from government offices around the world that are using YouTube in innovative ways.


If you're a government official, whether you are looking for an answer to a quick question or need a full training on YouTube best practices, we hope this resource will help you engage in a rich dialogue with your constituents and increase transparency within your community.
]]> Cross-posted from the Google Politics & Elections Blog

Posted by Brandon Feldman, YouTube News & Politics


From live streams of the State of the Union and legislative hearings, to explainer videos on important issues and Hangouts with constituents, YouTube has become an important platform where citizens engage with their governments and elected officials.


In order to help government officials get a better idea of what YouTube can do, we are launching youtube.com/government101, a one-stop shop where government officials can learn how to get the most out of YouTube as a communication tool.



The site offers a broad range of YouTube advice, from the basics of creating a channel to in-depth guidance on features like live streaming, annotations, playlists and more. We’ve also featured case studies from government offices around the world that are using YouTube in innovative ways.


If you're a government official, whether you are looking for an answer to a quick question or need a full training on YouTube best practices, we hope this resource will help you engage in a rich dialogue with your constituents and increase transparency within your community.
]]> https://googledata.org/youtube/launching-youtube-for-government/feed/ 0 Fighting Online Hate Speech https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/fighting-online-hate-speech/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fighting-online-hate-speech https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/fighting-online-hate-speech/#comments Tue, 23 Sep 2014 18:03:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=c80ed36c0baaf32f94124f71efd7aa2d
Posted by Christine Y. Chen, Senior Manager, Public Policy

Earlier today, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released its “Best Practices for Responding to Cyberhate.” For two years, Google has participated in an industry working group convened by the ADL where, together with several other companies, other NGOs, and academics, we have exchanged insights and ideas on how to balance the need for responsible discourse with the principles of free expression. The best practices set forth by the ADL grew out of these conversations and we are excited to see them being shared with the wider Internet community.


In line with the practices set forth by the ADL, we work hard at Google to combat the spread of hateful content in order to maintain safe and vibrant communities on platforms like YouTube, Blogger, and Google+. We don’t allow content that promotes or condones violence or that has the primary purpose of inciting hatred on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, age, nationality, or veteran status.


To make sure these communities stay vibrant, we also depend on our users to let us know when they see content that violates our policies. The Google Safety Center gives an overview of the tools that people can use to report content that violates our user policies on different products.




Here are more details about some of our content policies and how to flag violations:


  • YouTube: If you see videos that run afoul of our Community Guidelines, you can report it by clicking on the flag icon below the video player. Then click on the reason — such as “hateful or abusive content” — that best fits the violation for the video, and add any additional information that will help our reviewers make a decision. We have teams around the world reviewing content flagged by users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they will remove any videos that violate our guidelines.


  • Blogger: Our content policies describe what kinds of content are and are not allowed in blog posts. If you’re on a blog that seems problematic, click the “More” drop-down at the top of the page, then click on “Report abuse” and follow the prompts to alert us about any policy violations. If the blog owner has hidden that link, you can still report it by going to this Help Center page.  Select the type of content policy violation you’re reporting—such as “hate speech” or “harassment”—and click through to enter the URL of the blog in question.


  • Google+: Our user content policy outlines how we want to ensure a positive experience for our users. If you see inappropriate content, this Help Center page explains what to do. In a Google+ post, click the arrow in the upper right of the post, then click on “Report this post” to get to a pop-up where you can select the reason—like “hateful, harrassing or bullying”—for your report. To report a Google+ comment for a policy violation, click on the gray flag next to the comment.


These reporting systems operate much like an online neighborhood watch. We ask your help in maintaining a community that provides a positive and respectful experience for everyone. The Internet has enabled anyone to become an artist, a writer, or a creator by simply using a keyboard and few clicks to reach out to the rest of the world. The release of the ADL’s best practices are a good reminder that we must all work together to keep the Internet a safe and open place to exchange information and ideas, where people can connect and engage with each other in unprecedented ways.


]]>
Posted by Christine Y. Chen, Senior Manager, Public Policy

Earlier today, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released its “Best Practices for Responding to Cyberhate.” For two years, Google has participated in an industry working group convened by the ADL where, together with several other companies, other NGOs, and academics, we have exchanged insights and ideas on how to balance the need for responsible discourse with the principles of free expression. The best practices set forth by the ADL grew out of these conversations and we are excited to see them being shared with the wider Internet community.


In line with the practices set forth by the ADL, we work hard at Google to combat the spread of hateful content in order to maintain safe and vibrant communities on platforms like YouTube, Blogger, and Google+. We don’t allow content that promotes or condones violence or that has the primary purpose of inciting hatred on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, age, nationality, or veteran status.


To make sure these communities stay vibrant, we also depend on our users to let us know when they see content that violates our policies. The Google Safety Center gives an overview of the tools that people can use to report content that violates our user policies on different products.




Here are more details about some of our content policies and how to flag violations:


  • YouTube: If you see videos that run afoul of our Community Guidelines, you can report it by clicking on the flag icon below the video player. Then click on the reason — such as “hateful or abusive content” — that best fits the violation for the video, and add any additional information that will help our reviewers make a decision. We have teams around the world reviewing content flagged by users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they will remove any videos that violate our guidelines.


  • Blogger: Our content policies describe what kinds of content are and are not allowed in blog posts. If you’re on a blog that seems problematic, click the “More” drop-down at the top of the page, then click on “Report abuse” and follow the prompts to alert us about any policy violations. If the blog owner has hidden that link, you can still report it by going to this Help Center page.  Select the type of content policy violation you’re reporting—such as “hate speech” or “harassment”—and click through to enter the URL of the blog in question.


  • Google+: Our user content policy outlines how we want to ensure a positive experience for our users. If you see inappropriate content, this Help Center page explains what to do. In a Google+ post, click the arrow in the upper right of the post, then click on “Report this post” to get to a pop-up where you can select the reason—like “hateful, harrassing or bullying”—for your report. To report a Google+ comment for a policy violation, click on the gray flag next to the comment.


These reporting systems operate much like an online neighborhood watch. We ask your help in maintaining a community that provides a positive and respectful experience for everyone. The Internet has enabled anyone to become an artist, a writer, or a creator by simply using a keyboard and few clicks to reach out to the rest of the world. The release of the ADL’s best practices are a good reminder that we must all work together to keep the Internet a safe and open place to exchange information and ideas, where people can connect and engage with each other in unprecedented ways.


]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/fighting-online-hate-speech/feed/ 0 Transparency Report: Government demands for user info have risen 150% over the last five years https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-government-demands-for-user-info-have-risen-150-over-the-last-five-years/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=transparency-report-government-demands-for-user-info-have-risen-150-over-the-last-five-years https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-government-demands-for-user-info-have-risen-150-over-the-last-five-years/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2014 16:15:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=b596cc8fd78bb4542127d38ba1130ec2 Today, we’re updating our Transparency Report for the tenth time. This update details the number of government demands we received for user information in criminal investigations during the first half of 2014. The update also covers demands for user information under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and through National Security Letters (NSLs).

Worldwide, the numbers continue to rise: excluding FISA and NSL demands, we’ve seen a 15% increase since the second half of last year, and a 150% jump since we first began publishing this data in 2009. In the U.S., those increases are 19% and 250%, respectively.

This increase in government demands comes against a backdrop of ongoing revelations about government surveillance programs. Despite these revelations, we have seen some countries expand their surveillance authorities in an attempt to reach service providers outside their borders. Others are considering similar measures. The efforts of the U.S. Department of Justice and other countries to improve diplomatic cooperation will help reduce the perceived need for these laws, but much more remains to be done.

Governments have a legitimate and important role in fighting crime and investigating national security threats. To maintain public confidence in both government and technology, we need legislative reform that ensures surveillance powers are transparent, reasonably scoped by law, and subject to independent oversight.

The USA FREEDOM Act, introduced by Senators Leahy (D-VT), Lee (R-UT), Franken (D-MN) and Heller (R-NV) would prevent the bulk collection of Internet metadata under various legal authorities, allow us to be more transparent about the volume, scope and type of national security demands that we receive, and would create stronger oversight and accountability mechanisms. Congress should move now to enact this legislation into law.

Congress should also update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to make it clear that the government must obtain a search warrant before it can compel a service provider to disclose the content of a user’s communication. Legislation introduced in the House by Representatives Yoder (R-KS), Graves (R-GA) and Polis (D-CO) and in the Senate by Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Lee (R-UT) would create a warrant-for-content standard that protects the Fourth Amendment rights of Internet users.

This common-sense reform is now supported by a broad range of consumer groups, trade associations, and companies that comprise the Digital Due Process coalition. Additionally, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition urging the White House to back this bill, which enjoys bipartisan support from 266 House Members (well over a majority of the House) and passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in April 2013.

There is a growing consensus in support of these reforms. In the remaining days of this session, Congress has a chance to pass historic legislation that will help restore trust that has been lost. We urge them to seize upon this opportunity.

Posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security]]> Today, we’re updating our Transparency Report for the tenth time. This update details the number of government demands we received for user information in criminal investigations during the first half of 2014. The update also covers demands for user information under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and through National Security Letters (NSLs).

Worldwide, the numbers continue to rise: excluding FISA and NSL demands, we’ve seen a 15% increase since the second half of last year, and a 150% jump since we first began publishing this data in 2009. In the U.S., those increases are 19% and 250%, respectively.

This increase in government demands comes against a backdrop of ongoing revelations about government surveillance programs. Despite these revelations, we have seen some countries expand their surveillance authorities in an attempt to reach service providers outside their borders. Others are considering similar measures. The efforts of the U.S. Department of Justice and other countries to improve diplomatic cooperation will help reduce the perceived need for these laws, but much more remains to be done.

Governments have a legitimate and important role in fighting crime and investigating national security threats. To maintain public confidence in both government and technology, we need legislative reform that ensures surveillance powers are transparent, reasonably scoped by law, and subject to independent oversight.

The USA FREEDOM Act, introduced by Senators Leahy (D-VT), Lee (R-UT), Franken (D-MN) and Heller (R-NV) would prevent the bulk collection of Internet metadata under various legal authorities, allow us to be more transparent about the volume, scope and type of national security demands that we receive, and would create stronger oversight and accountability mechanisms. Congress should move now to enact this legislation into law.

Congress should also update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to make it clear that the government must obtain a search warrant before it can compel a service provider to disclose the content of a user’s communication. Legislation introduced in the House by Representatives Yoder (R-KS), Graves (R-GA) and Polis (D-CO) and in the Senate by Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Lee (R-UT) would create a warrant-for-content standard that protects the Fourth Amendment rights of Internet users.

This common-sense reform is now supported by a broad range of consumer groups, trade associations, and companies that comprise the Digital Due Process coalition. Additionally, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition urging the White House to back this bill, which enjoys bipartisan support from 266 House Members (well over a majority of the House) and passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in April 2013.

There is a growing consensus in support of these reforms. In the remaining days of this session, Congress has a chance to pass historic legislation that will help restore trust that has been lost. We urge them to seize upon this opportunity.

Posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-government-demands-for-user-info-have-risen-150-over-the-last-five-years/feed/ 0 UP Global White Paper: Announcing 5 Ingredients For ‘Fostering A Thriving Startup Ecosystem’ https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/up-global-white-paper-announcing-5-ingredients-for-fostering-a-thriving-startup-ecosystem/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=up-global-white-paper-announcing-5-ingredients-for-fostering-a-thriving-startup-ecosystem https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/up-global-white-paper-announcing-5-ingredients-for-fostering-a-thriving-startup-ecosystem/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2014 16:22:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=3402daa9d654b6f18711e8593c3c0a3b
This is a guest post from our Google for Entrepreneur's partner Marc Nager from UP Global - ed.

While supporting thousands of community leaders over the past six years, UP Global has consistently found itself at the center of larger conversations about what makes entrepreneurial ecosystems thrive.

Fundamentally, our goal is to provide a global framework for these conversations, that can be adapted to support the unique efforts of the community leaders and entrepreneurs - wherever they may be.

We are pleased to announce the release of the Fostering a Startup and Innovation Ecosystem white paper. This research project extends our commitment to entrepreneurs around the world, and substantiates our optimism for the economic progress that occurs every day. We hope the conversations around these topics continue as we work together towards providing global access to entrepreneurship.




Foreword by Mary Grove, Director of Google for Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship and innovation are thriving in communities all across the globe, and we see the transformative power entrepreneurs have to build products and companies that improve their communities, cities, and ultimately the world. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a surge in entrepreneurial activity in cities as far ranging as Damascus to Detroit, Sao Paulo to Nairobi, led by local leaders and influencers.

UP Global is a best in class organization empowering communities with the support and resources they need to foster local innovation and entrepreneurs. Their belief is that everyone in the world should have the opportunity to go from idea to startup, and the organization has over 7,000 volunteers across 125 countries who are often involved or eager to join in larger conversations with corporations, universities, and policymakers about building and fostering a favorable climate for entrepreneurs in their local community.

There is plenty of research out there that provides advice for entrepreneurs and highlights a few common ingredients that help to foster successful ecosystems. This white paper underscores the five critical ingredients that support flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystems: talent, density, culture, capital, and regulatory environment. My hope is that we continue the conversation about how to foster these ingredients in our daily work.  As a board member of UP Global and a close partner of theirs through Google for Entrepreneurs, I am more excited than ever about the organization’s continued support for entrepreneurial communities and the powerful opportunity these communities have to impact the world.

]]>
This is a guest post from our Google for Entrepreneur's partner Marc Nager from UP Global - ed.

While supporting thousands of community leaders over the past six years, UP Global has consistently found itself at the center of larger conversations about what makes entrepreneurial ecosystems thrive.

Fundamentally, our goal is to provide a global framework for these conversations, that can be adapted to support the unique efforts of the community leaders and entrepreneurs - wherever they may be.

We are pleased to announce the release of the Fostering a Startup and Innovation Ecosystem white paper. This research project extends our commitment to entrepreneurs around the world, and substantiates our optimism for the economic progress that occurs every day. We hope the conversations around these topics continue as we work together towards providing global access to entrepreneurship.




Foreword by Mary Grove, Director of Google for Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship and innovation are thriving in communities all across the globe, and we see the transformative power entrepreneurs have to build products and companies that improve their communities, cities, and ultimately the world. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a surge in entrepreneurial activity in cities as far ranging as Damascus to Detroit, Sao Paulo to Nairobi, led by local leaders and influencers.

UP Global is a best in class organization empowering communities with the support and resources they need to foster local innovation and entrepreneurs. Their belief is that everyone in the world should have the opportunity to go from idea to startup, and the organization has over 7,000 volunteers across 125 countries who are often involved or eager to join in larger conversations with corporations, universities, and policymakers about building and fostering a favorable climate for entrepreneurs in their local community.

There is plenty of research out there that provides advice for entrepreneurs and highlights a few common ingredients that help to foster successful ecosystems. This white paper underscores the five critical ingredients that support flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystems: talent, density, culture, capital, and regulatory environment. My hope is that we continue the conversation about how to foster these ingredients in our daily work.  As a board member of UP Global and a close partner of theirs through Google for Entrepreneurs, I am more excited than ever about the organization’s continued support for entrepreneurial communities and the powerful opportunity these communities have to impact the world.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/up-global-white-paper-announcing-5-ingredients-for-fostering-a-thriving-startup-ecosystem/feed/ 0 A Hangout On Air Conversation with SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-hangout-on-air-conversation-with-sba-administrator-maria-contreras-sweet/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-hangout-on-air-conversation-with-sba-administrator-maria-contreras-sweet https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-hangout-on-air-conversation-with-sba-administrator-maria-contreras-sweet/#comments Wed, 27 Aug 2014 13:32:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=ef4be4058f5619cfd9ad029760b437f4 Posted by Soo Young Kim, Head of Marketing, Get Your Business Online

There are 28 million small businesses in the US, and small businesses represent almost half of US private-sector jobs. What kind of support and resources does our government provide to make sure these small businesses thrive? Where can we find tips on how to start or grow a business? What funding opportunities are there?

On Wednesday, August 27th, the leader of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice of small business in President Obama’s Cabinet, Maria Contreras-Sweet, will join the Google Small Business Community for a Hangout on Air to share tips and insights for small businesses.

Since being appointed by President Obama, Administrator Contreras-Sweet has made a priority to meet and hear from small businesses. On Wednesday, she will answer questions directly from small businesses through Hangouts. Over the past two weeks, thousands of small business owners from all over the US, representing various backgrounds, experiences, and businesses, have submitted questions for the Administrator covering funding for businesses to technology.

Five small business participants will be joining the Hangout on camera along with the Administrator. One of the attendees, Brantley Crowder, is the director of e-commerce for Savannah Bee Company. Savannah Bee Company started in 2002 with a single beehive and a mission to support regional beekeepers by selling their honey and making honey-related health and beauty products. They started delving into digital with their website which launched in 2010 to support their stores in Charleston and Savannah.

The Hangout has participants like David Winslow, writing, “the SBA is beginning to make headway in an effort to lead the Government into a friendlier, more engaging place!”

Join the SBA Administrator tomorrow at 1:30 PM PT / 4:30 PM ET in the Google Small Business Community, a public community, which gives business people direct access to experts and industry leaders like Contreras-Sweet. The event will also be accessible live on the Google+ Your Business YouTube channel, in the event invitation, and the SBA website, and the video will be posted for viewing post-event.

RSVP to view the broadcast and submit your questions for a chance to have them answered live, on-air during the Hangout.
]]> Posted by Soo Young Kim, Head of Marketing, Get Your Business Online

There are 28 million small businesses in the US, and small businesses represent almost half of US private-sector jobs. What kind of support and resources does our government provide to make sure these small businesses thrive? Where can we find tips on how to start or grow a business? What funding opportunities are there?

On Wednesday, August 27th, the leader of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice of small business in President Obama’s Cabinet, Maria Contreras-Sweet, will join the Google Small Business Community for a Hangout on Air to share tips and insights for small businesses.

Since being appointed by President Obama, Administrator Contreras-Sweet has made a priority to meet and hear from small businesses. On Wednesday, she will answer questions directly from small businesses through Hangouts. Over the past two weeks, thousands of small business owners from all over the US, representing various backgrounds, experiences, and businesses, have submitted questions for the Administrator covering funding for businesses to technology.

Five small business participants will be joining the Hangout on camera along with the Administrator. One of the attendees, Brantley Crowder, is the director of e-commerce for Savannah Bee Company. Savannah Bee Company started in 2002 with a single beehive and a mission to support regional beekeepers by selling their honey and making honey-related health and beauty products. They started delving into digital with their website which launched in 2010 to support their stores in Charleston and Savannah.

The Hangout has participants like David Winslow, writing, “the SBA is beginning to make headway in an effort to lead the Government into a friendlier, more engaging place!”

Join the SBA Administrator tomorrow at 1:30 PM PT / 4:30 PM ET in the Google Small Business Community, a public community, which gives business people direct access to experts and industry leaders like Contreras-Sweet. The event will also be accessible live on the Google+ Your Business YouTube channel, in the event invitation, and the SBA website, and the video will be posted for viewing post-event.

RSVP to view the broadcast and submit your questions for a chance to have them answered live, on-air during the Hangout.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-hangout-on-air-conversation-with-sba-administrator-maria-contreras-sweet/feed/ 0 Chrome now available for download in Cuba https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/chrome-now-available-for-download-in-cuba/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chrome-now-available-for-download-in-cuba https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/chrome-now-available-for-download-in-cuba/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2014 21:55:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=e18f78d67325dc9ade1ee682c7d70108
By Pedro Less Andrade, Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy, Latin America

U.S. export controls and sanctions can sometimes limit the products available in certain countries. But these trade restrictions are always evolving, and over time, we’ve been working to figure out how to make more tools available in sanctioned countries. In the past couple years we’ve made Chrome downloadable in Syria and Iran. We’re happy to say that Internet users in Cuba can now use Chrome too, and browse the web faster and more safely than they could before.
]]>
By Pedro Less Andrade, Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy, Latin America

U.S. export controls and sanctions can sometimes limit the products available in certain countries. But these trade restrictions are always evolving, and over time, we’ve been working to figure out how to make more tools available in sanctioned countries. In the past couple years we’ve made Chrome downloadable in Syria and Iran. We’re happy to say that Internet users in Cuba can now use Chrome too, and browse the web faster and more safely than they could before.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/chrome-now-available-for-download-in-cuba/feed/ 0 Growing America’s Businesses Online https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/growing-americas-businesses-online/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=growing-americas-businesses-online https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/growing-americas-businesses-online/#comments Thu, 17 Jul 2014 16:57:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=e00e65a8deb1cb6b2a7a1cb2a5385750
Posted by Jim Lecinski, Vice President, Customer Solutions

Over the past few months, we’ve had the chance to talk to businesses all over the country and hear stories of how they’ve become successful. For many, it’s pretty simple: the Internet. The web is helping businesses and communities across the U.S. to grow and succeed. In fact, last year Google’s search and advertising tools helped provide $111 billion of economic activity for more than 1.5 million businesses—advertisers, publishers and nonprofits—across the U.S.

Take Go2marine, a boat supply company located on Bainbridge Island, off the coast of Washington State. Because of their remote location, bringing traffic to their website using Google AdWords plays an important role in their ability to sell their 250,000+ boat supplies to customers in 176 countries. When it’s winter in the U.S., they rely on customers located in other parts of the world where it’s boating season, with the web bringing them business from any place, in any season.

Or meet Don Morton, who taught reading, writing and language in lower-income neighborhoods in my home town of Chicago for nine years. In 2005, he began creating his own materials to supplement what the school system provided. Realizing that his worksheets could be useful for students and teachers everywhere, he created ereadingworksheets.com to provide his worksheets for free. Don started using Google AdSense to offset his costs by placing ads next to his content, and today he’s able to work full-time on his website and make an impact on students around the world.

These are just two examples of enterprising people making the most of Google tools to find new customers, connect with existing ones and grow their businesses; you can find plenty more of them in our Economic Impact Report. Our tools help connect business owners to their customers, whether they’re around the corner or across the world from each other. And when businesses flourish, it’s good news for the rest of us. Recent data shows that businesses that are online are expected to grow 40 percent faster and hire twice as many workers as businesses that aren’t. Every year, it gets clearer that the web helps lead to more successful businesses, stronger economies, more vibrant towns, and more prosperous communities.

Learn more about our economic impact in all 50 U.S. states, and how businesses are finding success through the web. Whether it’s a part for a boat or a grammar worksheet, we’re proud to play a role in giving businesses the tools they need to do more--to grow and thrive and connect with customers and communities all over the world.
]]>
Posted by Jim Lecinski, Vice President, Customer Solutions

Over the past few months, we’ve had the chance to talk to businesses all over the country and hear stories of how they’ve become successful. For many, it’s pretty simple: the Internet. The web is helping businesses and communities across the U.S. to grow and succeed. In fact, last year Google’s search and advertising tools helped provide $111 billion of economic activity for more than 1.5 million businesses—advertisers, publishers and nonprofits—across the U.S.

Take Go2marine, a boat supply company located on Bainbridge Island, off the coast of Washington State. Because of their remote location, bringing traffic to their website using Google AdWords plays an important role in their ability to sell their 250,000+ boat supplies to customers in 176 countries. When it’s winter in the U.S., they rely on customers located in other parts of the world where it’s boating season, with the web bringing them business from any place, in any season.

Or meet Don Morton, who taught reading, writing and language in lower-income neighborhoods in my home town of Chicago for nine years. In 2005, he began creating his own materials to supplement what the school system provided. Realizing that his worksheets could be useful for students and teachers everywhere, he created ereadingworksheets.com to provide his worksheets for free. Don started using Google AdSense to offset his costs by placing ads next to his content, and today he’s able to work full-time on his website and make an impact on students around the world.

These are just two examples of enterprising people making the most of Google tools to find new customers, connect with existing ones and grow their businesses; you can find plenty more of them in our Economic Impact Report. Our tools help connect business owners to their customers, whether they’re around the corner or across the world from each other. And when businesses flourish, it’s good news for the rest of us. Recent data shows that businesses that are online are expected to grow 40 percent faster and hire twice as many workers as businesses that aren’t. Every year, it gets clearer that the web helps lead to more successful businesses, stronger economies, more vibrant towns, and more prosperous communities.

Learn more about our economic impact in all 50 U.S. states, and how businesses are finding success through the web. Whether it’s a part for a boat or a grammar worksheet, we’re proud to play a role in giving businesses the tools they need to do more--to grow and thrive and connect with customers and communities all over the world.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/growing-americas-businesses-online/feed/ 0 Searching for the right balance https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/searching-for-the-right-balance-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=searching-for-the-right-balance-2 https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/searching-for-the-right-balance-2/#comments Fri, 11 Jul 2014 14:20:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=f9f820a69d4719523cc8e636350a26a8 In May, the Court of Justice of the European Union established a “right to be forgotten." Today, we published an op-ed by David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer, in the U.K.'s The Guardian, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, France's Le Figaro and Spain's El Pais, discussing the ruling and our response. We're republishing the op-ed in full below. -Ed.

When you search online, there’s an unwritten assumption that you’ll get an instant answer, as well as additional information if you need to dig deeper. This is all possible because of two decades worth of investment and innovation by many different companies. Today, however, search engines across Europe face a new challenge—one we’ve had just two months to get our heads around. That challenge is figuring out what information we must deliberately omit from our results, following a new ruling from the European Court of Justice.

In the past we’ve restricted the removals we make from search to a very short list. It includes information deemed illegal by a court, such as defamation, pirated content (once we’re notified by the rights holder), malware, personal information such as bank details, child sexual abuse imagery and other things prohibited by local law (like material that glorifies Nazism in Germany).

We’ve taken this approach because, as article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

But the European Court found that people have the right to ask for information to be removed from search results that include their names if it is “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive.” In deciding what to remove, search engines must also have regard to the public interest. These are, of course, very vague and subjective tests. The court also decided that search engines don’t qualify for a “journalistic exception.” This means that The Guardian could have an article on its website about an individual that’s perfectly legal, but we might not legally be able to show links to it in our results when you search for that person’s name. It’s a bit like saying the book can stay in the library, it just cannot be included in the library’s card catalogue.

It’s for these reasons that we disagree with the ruling. That said, we obviously respect the court’s authority and are doing our very best to comply quickly and responsibly. It’s a huge task as we’ve had over 70,000 take-down requests covering 250,000 webpages since May. So we now have a team of people individually reviewing each application, in most cases with limited information and almost no context.

The examples we’ve seen so far highlight the difficult value judgments search engines and European society now face: former politicians wanting posts removed that criticize their policies in office; serious, violent criminals asking for articles about their crimes to be deleted; bad reviews for professionals like architects and teachers; comments that people have written themselves (and now regret). In each case, someone wants the information hidden, while others might argue it should be out in the open.

When it comes to determining what’s in the the public interest, we’re taking into account a number of factors. These include whether: the information relates to a politician, celebrity, or other public figure; if the material comes from a reputable news source, and how recent it is; whether it involves political speech; questions of professional conduct that might be relevant to consumers; the involvement of criminal convictions that are not yet “spent”; and if the information is being published by a government. But these will always be difficult and debatable judgments.

We’re also doing our best to be transparent about removals: for example, we’re informing websites when one of their pages has been removed. But we cannot be specific about why we have removed the information because that could violate the individual’s privacy rights under the court's decision.

Of course, only two months in, our process is still very much a work in progress. It’s why we incorrectly removed links to some articles last week (they have since been reinstated). But the good news is that the ongoing, active debate that’s happening will inform the development of our principles, policies and practices—in particular about how to balance one person’s right to privacy with another’s right to know.

That’s why we've also set up an advisory council of experts, the final membership of which we're announcing today. These external experts from the worlds of academia, the media, data protection, civil society and the tech sector are serving as independent advisors to Google. The council will be asking for evidence and recommendations from different groups, and will hold public meetings this autumn across Europe to examine these issues more deeply. Its public report will include recommendations for particularly difficult removal requests (like criminal convictions); thoughts on the implications of the court’s decision for European Internet users, news publishers, search engines and others; and procedural steps that could improve accountability and transparency for websites and citizens.

The issues here at stake are important and difficult, but we’re committed to complying with the court’s decision. Indeed it's hard not to empathize with some of the requests we've seen—from the man who asked that we not show a news article saying he had been questioned in connection with a crime (he’s able to demonstrate that he was never charged) to the mother who requested that we remove news articles for her daughter’s name as she had been the victim of abuse. It’s a complex issue, with no easy answers. So a robust debate is both welcome and necessary, as, on this issue at least, no search engine has an instant or perfect answer.

Posted by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer]]> In May, the Court of Justice of the European Union established a “right to be forgotten." Today, we published an op-ed by David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer, in the U.K.'s The Guardian, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, France's Le Figaro and Spain's El Pais, discussing the ruling and our response. We're republishing the op-ed in full below. -Ed.

When you search online, there’s an unwritten assumption that you’ll get an instant answer, as well as additional information if you need to dig deeper. This is all possible because of two decades worth of investment and innovation by many different companies. Today, however, search engines across Europe face a new challenge—one we’ve had just two months to get our heads around. That challenge is figuring out what information we must deliberately omit from our results, following a new ruling from the European Court of Justice.

In the past we’ve restricted the removals we make from search to a very short list. It includes information deemed illegal by a court, such as defamation, pirated content (once we’re notified by the rights holder), malware, personal information such as bank details, child sexual abuse imagery and other things prohibited by local law (like material that glorifies Nazism in Germany).

We’ve taken this approach because, as article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

But the European Court found that people have the right to ask for information to be removed from search results that include their names if it is “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive.” In deciding what to remove, search engines must also have regard to the public interest. These are, of course, very vague and subjective tests. The court also decided that search engines don’t qualify for a “journalistic exception.” This means that The Guardian could have an article on its website about an individual that’s perfectly legal, but we might not legally be able to show links to it in our results when you search for that person’s name. It’s a bit like saying the book can stay in the library, it just cannot be included in the library’s card catalogue.

It’s for these reasons that we disagree with the ruling. That said, we obviously respect the court’s authority and are doing our very best to comply quickly and responsibly. It’s a huge task as we’ve had over 70,000 take-down requests covering 250,000 webpages since May. So we now have a team of people individually reviewing each application, in most cases with limited information and almost no context.

The examples we’ve seen so far highlight the difficult value judgments search engines and European society now face: former politicians wanting posts removed that criticize their policies in office; serious, violent criminals asking for articles about their crimes to be deleted; bad reviews for professionals like architects and teachers; comments that people have written themselves (and now regret). In each case, someone wants the information hidden, while others might argue it should be out in the open.

When it comes to determining what’s in the the public interest, we’re taking into account a number of factors. These include whether: the information relates to a politician, celebrity, or other public figure; if the material comes from a reputable news source, and how recent it is; whether it involves political speech; questions of professional conduct that might be relevant to consumers; the involvement of criminal convictions that are not yet “spent”; and if the information is being published by a government. But these will always be difficult and debatable judgments.

We’re also doing our best to be transparent about removals: for example, we’re informing websites when one of their pages has been removed. But we cannot be specific about why we have removed the information because that could violate the individual’s privacy rights under the court's decision.

Of course, only two months in, our process is still very much a work in progress. It’s why we incorrectly removed links to some articles last week (they have since been reinstated). But the good news is that the ongoing, active debate that’s happening will inform the development of our principles, policies and practices—in particular about how to balance one person’s right to privacy with another’s right to know.

That’s why we've also set up an advisory council of experts, the final membership of which we're announcing today. These external experts from the worlds of academia, the media, data protection, civil society and the tech sector are serving as independent advisors to Google. The council will be asking for evidence and recommendations from different groups, and will hold public meetings this autumn across Europe to examine these issues more deeply. Its public report will include recommendations for particularly difficult removal requests (like criminal convictions); thoughts on the implications of the court’s decision for European Internet users, news publishers, search engines and others; and procedural steps that could improve accountability and transparency for websites and citizens.

The issues here at stake are important and difficult, but we’re committed to complying with the court’s decision. Indeed it's hard not to empathize with some of the requests we've seen—from the man who asked that we not show a news article saying he had been questioned in connection with a crime (he’s able to demonstrate that he was never charged) to the mother who requested that we remove news articles for her daughter’s name as she had been the victim of abuse. It’s a complex issue, with no easy answers. So a robust debate is both welcome and necessary, as, on this issue at least, no search engine has an instant or perfect answer.

Posted by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/searching-for-the-right-balance-2/feed/ 0 A step toward government transparency https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-step-toward-government-transparency/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-step-toward-government-transparency https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-step-toward-government-transparency/#comments Fri, 27 Jun 2014 17:01:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=e112d7b247381271048795cede85659d Posted by Richard Salgado, Director Law Enforcement and Information Security

Last year, President Obama directed the Intelligence Community to be more transparent about government surveillance programs, which led to a promise by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to release a transparency report concerning national security orders it issues on an annual basis. Today, the U.S. government released its first transparency report containing statistics around national security orders for user data to Internet and telecom companies. This is a step in the right direction of increasing trust in both government and Internet services, and it demonstrates again that governments can embrace transparency while protecting national security. We applaud this first step, and strongly encourage other countries to follow suit, though there is still more to be done.

First, the government reports in a manner that makes it impossible to compare its report with the report of companies, such as the Google Transparency Report. Specifically, the government has chosen to disclose an estimated number of “targets” that it has surveilled, rather than the number of “accounts” at issue. This means that where the “target” is an organization composed of many people, and the government uses FISA to require disclosure of information from many different providers about the many accounts used by those people, covering a broad array of services, it may only report that there was one target. By contrast, in our methodology, and that used by other companies, we each would count the number of accounts impacted by a particular surveillance request. The government could provide more meaningful transparency by specifying the number of accounts too.

Second, we would like to see the federal government report on its national security demands with more information about the targets than it does today. Companies like Google can only provide a limited snapshot of how national security authorities are used. The Department of Justice, however, can provide a complete picture. To that end, we support legislation proposed by Senator Franken in August of 2013 that would mandate that the U.S. government release statistics around the number of both citizens and non-citizens whose information is collected and the scale and scope of the search and review of that data.

Finally, we gave early support for USA Freedom Act provisions which would allow companies to provide greater detail about the volume, scope, and type of national security demands that we ourselves receive for user data. Last month, the House version of the USA Freedom Act made improvements on the terms set out by the Department of Justice, and we hope that the Senate paves the way for companies to share more details about the national security demands that we receive.

I’m excited to see how far this debate has come; a year ago almost no one would have imagined that the federal government would release data about its national security demands to companies. These steps show that national security and transparency for the public are not in competition. We also hope that governments around the world will follow the lead of the U.S. government and be more open about the national security demands they serve on service providers and put out comparable transparency reports. Congress, and other governments around the world, should build on these steps.]]> Posted by Richard Salgado, Director Law Enforcement and Information Security

Last year, President Obama directed the Intelligence Community to be more transparent about government surveillance programs, which led to a promise by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to release a transparency report concerning national security orders it issues on an annual basis. Today, the U.S. government released its first transparency report containing statistics around national security orders for user data to Internet and telecom companies. This is a step in the right direction of increasing trust in both government and Internet services, and it demonstrates again that governments can embrace transparency while protecting national security. We applaud this first step, and strongly encourage other countries to follow suit, though there is still more to be done.

First, the government reports in a manner that makes it impossible to compare its report with the report of companies, such as the Google Transparency Report. Specifically, the government has chosen to disclose an estimated number of “targets” that it has surveilled, rather than the number of “accounts” at issue. This means that where the “target” is an organization composed of many people, and the government uses FISA to require disclosure of information from many different providers about the many accounts used by those people, covering a broad array of services, it may only report that there was one target. By contrast, in our methodology, and that used by other companies, we each would count the number of accounts impacted by a particular surveillance request. The government could provide more meaningful transparency by specifying the number of accounts too.

Second, we would like to see the federal government report on its national security demands with more information about the targets than it does today. Companies like Google can only provide a limited snapshot of how national security authorities are used. The Department of Justice, however, can provide a complete picture. To that end, we support legislation proposed by Senator Franken in August of 2013 that would mandate that the U.S. government release statistics around the number of both citizens and non-citizens whose information is collected and the scale and scope of the search and review of that data.

Finally, we gave early support for USA Freedom Act provisions which would allow companies to provide greater detail about the volume, scope, and type of national security demands that we ourselves receive for user data. Last month, the House version of the USA Freedom Act made improvements on the terms set out by the Department of Justice, and we hope that the Senate paves the way for companies to share more details about the national security demands that we receive.

I’m excited to see how far this debate has come; a year ago almost no one would have imagined that the federal government would release data about its national security demands to companies. These steps show that national security and transparency for the public are not in competition. We also hope that governments around the world will follow the lead of the U.S. government and be more open about the national security demands they serve on service providers and put out comparable transparency reports. Congress, and other governments around the world, should build on these steps.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-step-toward-government-transparency/feed/ 0 A significant milestone for digital due process https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-significant-milestone-for-digital-due-process/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-significant-milestone-for-digital-due-process https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-significant-milestone-for-digital-due-process/#comments Wed, 18 Jun 2014 15:28:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=34317a988218b84da9277e3fbec82ddd Posted by David Lieber, Senior Privacy Policy Counsel 

Although the recent debate around government surveillance has focused on the reach of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), we have long supported efforts to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) so that the government must obtain a warrant to require a provider to disclose content stored with the provider. 

The ongoing campaign to update ECPA reached a significant milestone today. For the first time, a majority of Members in the U.S. House of Representatives have gone on record to support bipartisan legislation (H.R. 1852) sponsored by Representatives Yoder (R-KS), Graves (R-GA), and Polis (D-CO) that would create a bright-line, warrant-for-content rule for electronic communications. 

This common-sense reform is long overdue. While well-intentioned when enacted in 1986, ECPA no longer reflects users’ reasonable expectations of privacy. For example, an email may receive more robust privacy protections under ECPA depending on how old it is, whether it has been opened, and where it is stored — while users attach no importance to these distinctions. The Department of Justice itself has acknowledged that there is no principled reason for this rule. 

In 2010, a federal appeals court said that ECPA itself is unconstitutional to the extent that it authorizes the government to obtain the content of emails without a warrant. Google agrees with the court that the Fourth Amendment requires that the government issue a search warrant to compel a provider to disclose the content of communications that a user stores with a provider. 

Congress should send a clear message about the limits of government surveillance by enacting legislation that would create a bright-line, warrant-for-content standard. Now that a majority has gone on record to support this common sense update, we once again urge Congress to expeditiously pass legislation to update ECPA.]]> Posted by David Lieber, Senior Privacy Policy Counsel 

Although the recent debate around government surveillance has focused on the reach of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), we have long supported efforts to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) so that the government must obtain a warrant to require a provider to disclose content stored with the provider. 

The ongoing campaign to update ECPA reached a significant milestone today. For the first time, a majority of Members in the U.S. House of Representatives have gone on record to support bipartisan legislation (H.R. 1852) sponsored by Representatives Yoder (R-KS), Graves (R-GA), and Polis (D-CO) that would create a bright-line, warrant-for-content rule for electronic communications. 

This common-sense reform is long overdue. While well-intentioned when enacted in 1986, ECPA no longer reflects users’ reasonable expectations of privacy. For example, an email may receive more robust privacy protections under ECPA depending on how old it is, whether it has been opened, and where it is stored — while users attach no importance to these distinctions. The Department of Justice itself has acknowledged that there is no principled reason for this rule. 

In 2010, a federal appeals court said that ECPA itself is unconstitutional to the extent that it authorizes the government to obtain the content of emails without a warrant. Google agrees with the court that the Fourth Amendment requires that the government issue a search warrant to compel a provider to disclose the content of communications that a user stores with a provider. 

Congress should send a clear message about the limits of government surveillance by enacting legislation that would create a bright-line, warrant-for-content standard. Now that a majority has gone on record to support this common sense update, we once again urge Congress to expeditiously pass legislation to update ECPA.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-significant-milestone-for-digital-due-process/feed/ 0 Commemorating D-Day’s 70th anniversary https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/commemorating-d-days-70th-anniversary/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=commemorating-d-days-70th-anniversary https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/commemorating-d-days-70th-anniversary/#comments Wed, 04 Jun 2014 14:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=3f3ef697a6ed7ced0a30b65e4c090a8d Posted by Sixtine Fabre, Associate Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute

On June 6, 1944, the largest air, naval and military operation in history took place on the coast of Normandy. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day, we’ve partnered with a number of cultural institutions and veterans from the U.S., U.K. and France to help share the stories of the Normandy Landings through the Cultural Institute and a Google+ Hangout on Air today.

Technology allows us to bring together information from around the world to showcase different perspectives on one moment in time. This is possible thanks to partners including The National Archives, The George C. Marshall Research Foundation, The Imperial War Museum, and Bletchley Park codebreaker center.

This collection provides an in-depth look into the Normandy Landings with 470 new documents and images ranging from photos of important preparations, meetings of leaders, and soldiers in action to documents like FDR’s D-Day Prayer and a top secret progress report from General Eisenhower to General Marshall. These pieces have been curated into digital exhibits that present a timeline of events for those who want to be guided through the content. For visitors who have a specific photo or document in mind, the search function allows users to find specific archival material.

Not only will we honor this history through archival content, but you’ll also have the chance to hear the stories of veterans who made the mission possible. Today, we’re hosting a Google+ Hangout on Air from the Caen War Memorial with American, French and British D-Day veterans. The conversation will be hosted by French journalist Gilles Bouleau and Caen Memorial historian Christophe Prime will take part as well. The Hangout will begin at 12:00 p.m. EST.

Whether it’s through the Cultural Institute or Hangouts on Air, we hope you’ll take the chance to learn more about D-Day and remember this important piece of our history.

US Amphibious Force Training for Invasion, The George C. Marshall Foundation

]]> Posted by Sixtine Fabre, Associate Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute

On June 6, 1944, the largest air, naval and military operation in history took place on the coast of Normandy. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day, we’ve partnered with a number of cultural institutions and veterans from the U.S., U.K. and France to help share the stories of the Normandy Landings through the Cultural Institute and a Google+ Hangout on Air today.

Technology allows us to bring together information from around the world to showcase different perspectives on one moment in time. This is possible thanks to partners including The National Archives, The George C. Marshall Research Foundation, The Imperial War Museum, and Bletchley Park codebreaker center.

This collection provides an in-depth look into the Normandy Landings with 470 new documents and images ranging from photos of important preparations, meetings of leaders, and soldiers in action to documents like FDR’s D-Day Prayer and a top secret progress report from General Eisenhower to General Marshall. These pieces have been curated into digital exhibits that present a timeline of events for those who want to be guided through the content. For visitors who have a specific photo or document in mind, the search function allows users to find specific archival material.

Not only will we honor this history through archival content, but you’ll also have the chance to hear the stories of veterans who made the mission possible. Today, we’re hosting a Google+ Hangout on Air from the Caen War Memorial with American, French and British D-Day veterans. The conversation will be hosted by French journalist Gilles Bouleau and Caen Memorial historian Christophe Prime will take part as well. The Hangout will begin at 12:00 p.m. EST.

Whether it’s through the Cultural Institute or Hangouts on Air, we hope you’ll take the chance to learn more about D-Day and remember this important piece of our history.

US Amphibious Force Training for Invasion, The George C. Marshall Foundation

]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/commemorating-d-days-70th-anniversary/feed/ 0 The FCC’s Important Step to Power Wireless Broadband https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-fccs-important-step-to-power-wireless-broadband/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-fccs-important-step-to-power-wireless-broadband https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-fccs-important-step-to-power-wireless-broadband/#comments Thu, 15 May 2014 20:27:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=6d942eb514ca0a68e029e638673ae4ae
Posted by Aparna Sridhar, Google Policy Counsel

Today, the Federal Communications Commission took an important step toward powering tomorrow’s wireless broadband.  The FCC adopted new rules that will designate some spectrum--resources that, under the FCC’s plan, would not in any event be auctioned for wireless carriers’ broadband services--for unlicensed devices and applications on a shared basis.  

Unlicensed uses of spectrum are an important complement to carriers’ mobile broadband services.  For example, the Wi-Fi networks in homes, businesses, and coffee shops allow users to take data off the wireless carriers’ licensed networks, which enables faster service and reduces congestion on cellular systems.  For smartphones and tablets in particular, Cisco has found that daily data consumption over Wi-Fi is four times that of cellular.  Offloading data from cellular networks to Wi-Fi has saved mobile network operators billions of dollars in network deployment costs.  Faster and cheaper access to online services drives usage of those services and thus demand for all forms of network access, creating a virtuous cycle of investment.  Access to new, lower-frequency TV band spectrum could accelerate this process and create more unlicensed service options, allowing better indoor coverage and service in rural and underserved areas.  

The FCC’s plan allows television broadcasters to sell their spectrum rights voluntarily so they can be purchased by mobile operators.  This will enable more efficient spectrum use and spur economic growth.

The FCC had a challenge in designing its plan for an auction of TV broadcast spectrum, and we’re pleased that it is supporting both licensed and unlicensed uses.  While the plan doesn’t provide as much unlicensed spectrum as we recommended, it should provide just enough unlicensed spectrum to attract investments in equipment and operations in the new band.  Google will do its part to ensure that our Spectrum Database supports sharing of the newly allocated spectrum.

We’re grateful that Congressional supporters of unlicensed spectrum use have continued to back the FCC’s progress on this front. While there’s still a lot of work ahead to get the final details of the auction right, we look forward to working with all stakeholders to build the next generation of wireless technologies and see them deployed across America.
]]>
Posted by Aparna Sridhar, Google Policy Counsel

Today, the Federal Communications Commission took an important step toward powering tomorrow’s wireless broadband.  The FCC adopted new rules that will designate some spectrum--resources that, under the FCC’s plan, would not in any event be auctioned for wireless carriers’ broadband services--for unlicensed devices and applications on a shared basis.  

Unlicensed uses of spectrum are an important complement to carriers’ mobile broadband services.  For example, the Wi-Fi networks in homes, businesses, and coffee shops allow users to take data off the wireless carriers’ licensed networks, which enables faster service and reduces congestion on cellular systems.  For smartphones and tablets in particular, Cisco has found that daily data consumption over Wi-Fi is four times that of cellular.  Offloading data from cellular networks to Wi-Fi has saved mobile network operators billions of dollars in network deployment costs.  Faster and cheaper access to online services drives usage of those services and thus demand for all forms of network access, creating a virtuous cycle of investment.  Access to new, lower-frequency TV band spectrum could accelerate this process and create more unlicensed service options, allowing better indoor coverage and service in rural and underserved areas.  

The FCC’s plan allows television broadcasters to sell their spectrum rights voluntarily so they can be purchased by mobile operators.  This will enable more efficient spectrum use and spur economic growth.

The FCC had a challenge in designing its plan for an auction of TV broadcast spectrum, and we’re pleased that it is supporting both licensed and unlicensed uses.  While the plan doesn’t provide as much unlicensed spectrum as we recommended, it should provide just enough unlicensed spectrum to attract investments in equipment and operations in the new band.  Google will do its part to ensure that our Spectrum Database supports sharing of the newly allocated spectrum.

We’re grateful that Congressional supporters of unlicensed spectrum use have continued to back the FCC’s progress on this front. While there’s still a lot of work ahead to get the final details of the auction right, we look forward to working with all stakeholders to build the next generation of wireless technologies and see them deployed across America.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/the-fccs-important-step-to-power-wireless-broadband/feed/ 0 New FCC Rules Will Boost Wireless Broadband https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/new-fcc-rules-will-boost-wireless-broadband/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-fcc-rules-will-boost-wireless-broadband https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/new-fcc-rules-will-boost-wireless-broadband/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2014 18:59:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=0ebbd343660b089c067af07d412010e6
Posted by Milo Medin, Vice President of Access Services

Earlier today, the Federal Communications Commission adopted proposed rules that -- if finalized later this year as planned -- will implement a 2012 recommendation of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and put spectrum to better use for broadband.  The proposed rules include some of the most forward-thinking spectrum policy anywhere in the world, and the FCC should be commended for moving aggressively towards implementation.

The key idea is that modern database technologies will allow commercial use of spectrum that historically has been dedicated to federal purposes, when and where the government doesn’t have immediate need for it.  Additionally, this new model allows flexible commercial use of the spectrum, where the database can mediate between protected operations like cellular LTE, and unprotected operations (which could be WiFi-type devices), without the government having to pick one or the other.  

The government will also benefit from having commercial devices in their bands.  Federal users will be able to buy lower-cost and higher-performance equipment based on consumer smartphone technologies.  It’s a win-win approach that lets government agencies continue to use their spectrum and take advantage of the commercial ecosystem, while also helping meet the growing demand for mobile broadband and device connectivity.  

Google has long advocated for more efficient use of spectrum through sharing technologies.  We operate an FCC-approved Spectrum Database that enables the use of vacant TV broadcast channels for wireless broadband.  And, we’ve built a prototype Spectrum Access System that is in use at our headquarters in Mountain View, California.  We believe spectrum sharing can unlock huge consumer benefits compared with traditional approaches of clearing existing users to make way for new ones, which can take as long as a decade to implement when it is possible at all.

It also is important that the FCC continue pushing hard to allow flexible use of spectrum in multiple bands. Different radio frequencies are suited to different applications.  For instance, the 600 MHz TV broadcast spectrum that Congress designated for voluntary recovery is especially useful for longer range services that provide excellent coverage, while higher frequencies (like the 3550 MHz band that’s at issue in today’s FCC rules) are ideal for quickly and affordably scaling up capacity in densely populated areas.  In these bands and others, federal policy should maximize the availability of spectrum that’s usable for broadband under a variety of business models.

Google welcomes the new FCC rules as a major step forward.  We’re committed to continue to work with the FCC and other federal agencies to make shared commercial access a reality, while ensuring federal operations are safeguarded.
]]>
Posted by Milo Medin, Vice President of Access Services

Earlier today, the Federal Communications Commission adopted proposed rules that -- if finalized later this year as planned -- will implement a 2012 recommendation of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and put spectrum to better use for broadband.  The proposed rules include some of the most forward-thinking spectrum policy anywhere in the world, and the FCC should be commended for moving aggressively towards implementation.

The key idea is that modern database technologies will allow commercial use of spectrum that historically has been dedicated to federal purposes, when and where the government doesn’t have immediate need for it.  Additionally, this new model allows flexible commercial use of the spectrum, where the database can mediate between protected operations like cellular LTE, and unprotected operations (which could be WiFi-type devices), without the government having to pick one or the other.  

The government will also benefit from having commercial devices in their bands.  Federal users will be able to buy lower-cost and higher-performance equipment based on consumer smartphone technologies.  It’s a win-win approach that lets government agencies continue to use their spectrum and take advantage of the commercial ecosystem, while also helping meet the growing demand for mobile broadband and device connectivity.  

Google has long advocated for more efficient use of spectrum through sharing technologies.  We operate an FCC-approved Spectrum Database that enables the use of vacant TV broadcast channels for wireless broadband.  And, we’ve built a prototype Spectrum Access System that is in use at our headquarters in Mountain View, California.  We believe spectrum sharing can unlock huge consumer benefits compared with traditional approaches of clearing existing users to make way for new ones, which can take as long as a decade to implement when it is possible at all.

It also is important that the FCC continue pushing hard to allow flexible use of spectrum in multiple bands. Different radio frequencies are suited to different applications.  For instance, the 600 MHz TV broadcast spectrum that Congress designated for voluntary recovery is especially useful for longer range services that provide excellent coverage, while higher frequencies (like the 3550 MHz band that’s at issue in today’s FCC rules) are ideal for quickly and affordably scaling up capacity in densely populated areas.  In these bands and others, federal policy should maximize the availability of spectrum that’s usable for broadband under a variety of business models.

Google welcomes the new FCC rules as a major step forward.  We’re committed to continue to work with the FCC and other federal agencies to make shared commercial access a reality, while ensuring federal operations are safeguarded.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/new-fcc-rules-will-boost-wireless-broadband/feed/ 0 Using Technology to Celebrate and Remember the Civil Rights Movement https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/using-technology-to-celebrate-and-remember-the-civil-rights-movement/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=using-technology-to-celebrate-and-remember-the-civil-rights-movement https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/using-technology-to-celebrate-and-remember-the-civil-rights-movement/#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2014 19:23:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=c415aae636f3fb6b8709e03693fa2904
Posted by Susan Molinari, VP Public Policy  

Technology can help us understand our past and connect with history in extraordinary and meaningful ways. This week, the LBJ Presidential Library is holding a three day Civil Rights Summit to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and we are proud to provide technology to help support this event.

Over the next three days, we will be live streaming the program so people from all over the world can tune in to hear the panels and speakers, including remarks from four U.S. presidents. Each day will also feature heroes from the civil rights movement, the sports arena and the music industry, as well as panels on new civil rights challenges around immigration rights, gay rights, women’s rights and so much more.  We hope you can tune in, but if you miss the live stream, you can find all of the content on the LBJ Library’s YouTube page.

President Jimmy Carter will also be doing a Google+ Hangout on Air Tuesday at 2:00 PM PST.  Rock musician Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame will be on Air Tuesday at 2:30 PM PST, and playwright Robert Schenkkan, whose play about LBJ is currently on Broadway, will be on Air Wednesday at 2:00 PM PST.

Finally, Google has teamed up with the National Archives to launch a new collection on the Cultural Institute to capture the history of the passage of the Civil Rights Act online. Much of the content on the site is from the LBJ Presidential Library and features images, letters, telegrams, and video from January 1961 when President Kennedy first takes office to July 1964 when President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law. Here are a few examples of what can be found in the collection:


We are honored to be able to help capture this important event and this special exhibit highlighting one of America’s most pivotal moments in history.
]]>
Posted by Susan Molinari, VP Public Policy  

Technology can help us understand our past and connect with history in extraordinary and meaningful ways. This week, the LBJ Presidential Library is holding a three day Civil Rights Summit to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and we are proud to provide technology to help support this event.

Over the next three days, we will be live streaming the program so people from all over the world can tune in to hear the panels and speakers, including remarks from four U.S. presidents. Each day will also feature heroes from the civil rights movement, the sports arena and the music industry, as well as panels on new civil rights challenges around immigration rights, gay rights, women’s rights and so much more.  We hope you can tune in, but if you miss the live stream, you can find all of the content on the LBJ Library’s YouTube page.

President Jimmy Carter will also be doing a Google+ Hangout on Air Tuesday at 2:00 PM PST.  Rock musician Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame will be on Air Tuesday at 2:30 PM PST, and playwright Robert Schenkkan, whose play about LBJ is currently on Broadway, will be on Air Wednesday at 2:00 PM PST.

Finally, Google has teamed up with the National Archives to launch a new collection on the Cultural Institute to capture the history of the passage of the Civil Rights Act online. Much of the content on the site is from the LBJ Presidential Library and features images, letters, telegrams, and video from January 1961 when President Kennedy first takes office to July 1964 when President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law. Here are a few examples of what can be found in the collection:


We are honored to be able to help capture this important event and this special exhibit highlighting one of America’s most pivotal moments in history.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/using-technology-to-celebrate-and-remember-the-civil-rights-movement/feed/ 0 Transparency Report: Requests for user information up 120 percent over four years https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-requests-for-user-information-up-120-percent-over-four-years/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=transparency-report-requests-for-user-information-up-120-percent-over-four-years https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-requests-for-user-information-up-120-percent-over-four-years/#comments Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:02:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=74fc0655accd12ef74421b796c0a4567
Posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security

While we’ve always known how important transparency is when it comes to government requests, the events of the past year have underscored just how urgent the issue is. From being the first company to disclose information about National Security Letters to fighting for the ability to publish more about FISA requests, we’ve continually advocated for your right to know.

Today, we’re updating our Transparency Report for the ninth time. This updated Report details the number of government requests we received for user information in criminal investigations during the second half of 2013. Government requests for user information in criminal cases have increased by about 120 percent since we first began publishing these numbers in 2009. Though our number of users has grown throughout the time period, we’re also seeing more and more governments start to exercise their authority to make requests.

We consistently push back against overly broad requests for your personal information, but it’s also important for laws to explicitly protect you from government overreach. That’s why we’re working alongside eight other companies to push for surveillance reform, including more transparency. We’ve all been sharing best practices about how to report the requests we receive, and as a result our Transparency Report now includes governments that made less than 30 requests during a six-month reporting period, in addition to those that made 30+ requests.

We also call on Congress to pass legislation that would update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to require governmental entities to obtain a warrant before they can compel online companies to disclose the content of users’ communications. As we have noted previously, legislation introduced by Senators Leahy and Lee (R-Utah) in the Senate and Representatives Yoder (R-Kan.), Graves (R-Ga.), and Polis (D-Colo.) in the House would achieve that goal. This legislation enjoys broad, bipartisan support, and we urge Congress to move quickly toward enacting legislation that would update ECPA in a manner that comports with how people use the Internet today. Moreover, more than 110,000 people have signed a White House petition, asking the Administration to support legislation that would update ECPA in this manner.

Also, people have been asking about how we respond to search warrants in the U.S., so we’ve created an entertaining video to explain in plain language how this process works. We apply the same rigorous standards presented in this video to every request we receive, regardless of type.



You deserve to know when and how governments request user information online, and we’ll keep fighting to make sure that’s the case.
]]>
Posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security

While we’ve always known how important transparency is when it comes to government requests, the events of the past year have underscored just how urgent the issue is. From being the first company to disclose information about National Security Letters to fighting for the ability to publish more about FISA requests, we’ve continually advocated for your right to know.

Today, we’re updating our Transparency Report for the ninth time. This updated Report details the number of government requests we received for user information in criminal investigations during the second half of 2013. Government requests for user information in criminal cases have increased by about 120 percent since we first began publishing these numbers in 2009. Though our number of users has grown throughout the time period, we’re also seeing more and more governments start to exercise their authority to make requests.

We consistently push back against overly broad requests for your personal information, but it’s also important for laws to explicitly protect you from government overreach. That’s why we’re working alongside eight other companies to push for surveillance reform, including more transparency. We’ve all been sharing best practices about how to report the requests we receive, and as a result our Transparency Report now includes governments that made less than 30 requests during a six-month reporting period, in addition to those that made 30+ requests.

We also call on Congress to pass legislation that would update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to require governmental entities to obtain a warrant before they can compel online companies to disclose the content of users’ communications. As we have noted previously, legislation introduced by Senators Leahy and Lee (R-Utah) in the Senate and Representatives Yoder (R-Kan.), Graves (R-Ga.), and Polis (D-Colo.) in the House would achieve that goal. This legislation enjoys broad, bipartisan support, and we urge Congress to move quickly toward enacting legislation that would update ECPA in a manner that comports with how people use the Internet today. Moreover, more than 110,000 people have signed a White House petition, asking the Administration to support legislation that would update ECPA in this manner.

Also, people have been asking about how we respond to search warrants in the U.S., so we’ve created an entertaining video to explain in plain language how this process works. We apply the same rigorous standards presented in this video to every request we receive, regardless of type.



You deserve to know when and how governments request user information online, and we’ll keep fighting to make sure that’s the case.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/transparency-report-requests-for-user-information-up-120-percent-over-four-years/feed/ 0 Apply for a 2014 Google Policy Fellowship https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/apply-for-a-2014-google-policy-fellowship/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apply-for-a-2014-google-policy-fellowship https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/apply-for-a-2014-google-policy-fellowship/#comments Thu, 20 Mar 2014 18:05:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=8e84662a70bf18bb6eaea652531f4176 The Internet policy world ripe with fascinating policy issues. From government surveillance and data security to patent reform and copyright to free expression and open access to information, there has never been a more exciting time to get involved. We’re excited to launch the 7th summer of the Google Policy Fellowship, connecting students of all levels and disciplines with organizations working on the forefront of these and other critical issues for the future of the Internet. Applications are open today for North America and Latin America, and students of all levels and disciplines are welcome to apply before Friday, April 14, 2014. 

This year’s organizations include: 

  • American Library Association 
  • National Consumers League 
  • National Hispanic Media Coalition 
  • Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
  • Public Knowledge
  • TechFreedom
  • Center for Democracy and Technology
  • Global Network Initiative 
  • R Street 
  • iKeepSafe 
  • ConnectSafely 
  • The Citizen Lab 
  • Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic
  • American Association of People with Disabilities
  • Future of Privacy Forum
  • Technology Policy Institute
  • Future of Music
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
  • Internet Education Foundation
  • Fundación Karisma 
  • Asociación por los Derechos Civiles
  • Derechos Digitales 
  • Article 19 Mexico 

More fellowship opportunities in Asia, Africa, and Europe will be coming soon. You can learn about the program, application process and host organizations on the Google Public Policy Fellowship website.]]> The Internet policy world ripe with fascinating policy issues. From government surveillance and data security to patent reform and copyright to free expression and open access to information, there has never been a more exciting time to get involved. We’re excited to launch the 7th summer of the Google Policy Fellowship, connecting students of all levels and disciplines with organizations working on the forefront of these and other critical issues for the future of the Internet. Applications are open today for North America and Latin America, and students of all levels and disciplines are welcome to apply before Friday, April 14, 2014. 

This year’s organizations include: 

  • American Library Association 
  • National Consumers League 
  • National Hispanic Media Coalition 
  • Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
  • Public Knowledge
  • TechFreedom
  • Center for Democracy and Technology
  • Global Network Initiative 
  • R Street 
  • iKeepSafe 
  • ConnectSafely 
  • The Citizen Lab 
  • Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic
  • American Association of People with Disabilities
  • Future of Privacy Forum
  • Technology Policy Institute
  • Future of Music
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
  • Internet Education Foundation
  • Fundación Karisma 
  • Asociación por los Derechos Civiles
  • Derechos Digitales 
  • Article 19 Mexico 

More fellowship opportunities in Asia, Africa, and Europe will be coming soon. You can learn about the program, application process and host organizations on the Google Public Policy Fellowship website.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/apply-for-a-2014-google-policy-fellowship/feed/ 0 Protecting Consumers From Identity Theft and Scams https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/protecting-consumers-from-identity-theft-and-scams/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=protecting-consumers-from-identity-theft-and-scams https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/protecting-consumers-from-identity-theft-and-scams/#comments Wed, 05 Mar 2014 16:31:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=b144685e27f5f567134116d79c5cc0f2
Posted by Sheily Chhabria, Head of Strategic Operations, Product Quality Operations

Keeping your information safe and secure is one of Google’s top priorities and to celebrate National Consumer Protection Week we wanted to share a few things that we do to help protect you and your information from harm on the web.

Google scans the web to find the most useful and interesting content to display in your search results, but while we’re looking for all that good stuff, we sometimes find sites or links that seem unsafe - that might be set up to steal your information or silently take over your computer. We identify about 10,000 of these bad sites daily and if you try and visit a site that is unsafe, we show warnings like the one below.   


These warnings help you avoid sites containing software that might steal your personal information or harm your computer.

These warnings appear on millions of Google Search results and we also make information about these unsafe sites available to other companies and developers so that users on many services, not just Google, can be protected from harm. This work helps protect you and about one billion other internet users from these types of sites .

If one of these bad sites did manage to steal your sensitive information, like your social security numbers or driver’s license, and published it on the web, you can report it to Google to have your information taken out of our Search results. We also follow this process for sensitive financial information like credit card numbers or bank account numbers.

Google also has strict policies about the kinds of goods and services that can be advertised using our ad systems and on our publisher network. For example, we don’t allow ads for certain types of things that might harm your computer or cost you money, like malicious downloads, or ads for products or services with unclear billing practices, like hidden costs. We also don’t allow ads with misleading claims (“lose weight guaranteed!”), for counterfeit goods, or fraudulent work-at-home scams (“make a million dollars an hour - from your kitchen!”). 

Misleading ad screenshot .jpg
We don’t allow scammy ads that mislead consumers

In 2013 alone we removed more than 350 million bad ads from our systems and banned more than 270,000 advertisers from using Google’s ad services. We proactively look for these ads to keep them off our systems, and listen to feedback from consumers if they tell us an ad is no good. In fact, you can report scams, inappropriate content or bad behavior using some of the safety tools that are built into many Google products.  

Technology is complicated, but thankfully you don’t have to be a computer scientist to help protect yourself online. The Google Safety Center has advice and tips from security experts on the simple things you can do to protect yourself and your family from online threats like identity theft or scams. And if you’re looking for a way to celebrate along with us this week, please check out our blog post series on quick steps you can take to help improve your online safety and security. You can also get more information, videos and advice from some of the many consumer protection organizations celebrating this week, such as the Federal Trade Commission,  the National Association of Attorneys General and many individual State Attorneys General, and the Better Business Bureau.

]]>
Posted by Sheily Chhabria, Head of Strategic Operations, Product Quality Operations

Keeping your information safe and secure is one of Google’s top priorities and to celebrate National Consumer Protection Week we wanted to share a few things that we do to help protect you and your information from harm on the web.

Google scans the web to find the most useful and interesting content to display in your search results, but while we’re looking for all that good stuff, we sometimes find sites or links that seem unsafe - that might be set up to steal your information or silently take over your computer. We identify about 10,000 of these bad sites daily and if you try and visit a site that is unsafe, we show warnings like the one below.   


These warnings help you avoid sites containing software that might steal your personal information or harm your computer.

These warnings appear on millions of Google Search results and we also make information about these unsafe sites available to other companies and developers so that users on many services, not just Google, can be protected from harm. This work helps protect you and about one billion other internet users from these types of sites .

If one of these bad sites did manage to steal your sensitive information, like your social security numbers or driver’s license, and published it on the web, you can report it to Google to have your information taken out of our Search results. We also follow this process for sensitive financial information like credit card numbers or bank account numbers.

Google also has strict policies about the kinds of goods and services that can be advertised using our ad systems and on our publisher network. For example, we don’t allow ads for certain types of things that might harm your computer or cost you money, like malicious downloads, or ads for products or services with unclear billing practices, like hidden costs. We also don’t allow ads with misleading claims (“lose weight guaranteed!”), for counterfeit goods, or fraudulent work-at-home scams (“make a million dollars an hour - from your kitchen!”). 

Misleading ad screenshot .jpg
We don’t allow scammy ads that mislead consumers

In 2013 alone we removed more than 350 million bad ads from our systems and banned more than 270,000 advertisers from using Google’s ad services. We proactively look for these ads to keep them off our systems, and listen to feedback from consumers if they tell us an ad is no good. In fact, you can report scams, inappropriate content or bad behavior using some of the safety tools that are built into many Google products.  

Technology is complicated, but thankfully you don’t have to be a computer scientist to help protect yourself online. The Google Safety Center has advice and tips from security experts on the simple things you can do to protect yourself and your family from online threats like identity theft or scams. And if you’re looking for a way to celebrate along with us this week, please check out our blog post series on quick steps you can take to help improve your online safety and security. You can also get more information, videos and advice from some of the many consumer protection organizations celebrating this week, such as the Federal Trade Commission,  the National Association of Attorneys General and many individual State Attorneys General, and the Better Business Bureau.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/protecting-consumers-from-identity-theft-and-scams/feed/ 0 It’s time to reform government surveillance laws https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/its-time-to-reform-government-surveillance-laws/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=its-time-to-reform-government-surveillance-laws https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/its-time-to-reform-government-surveillance-laws/#comments Tue, 11 Feb 2014 13:10:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=56b258e38977441e2d7f49373b9ef3d9 Posted by Susan Molinari, VP Public Policy 

The revelations about government surveillance practices—both in the U.S. and globally—over the past eight months have sparked a serious and overdue debate about the nature and scope of existing laws and programs. Today, many organizations and companies are participating in “The Day We Fight Back,” a series of events and awareness campaigns highlighting the urgent need for surveillance reform around the world.

Google recognizes the very real threats that the U.S. and other countries face, but we strongly believe that government surveillance programs should operate under a legal framework that is rule-bound, narrowly tailored, transparent, and subject to oversight.

In December, along with other technology companies, we unveiled a set of government surveillance reform principles that address many of the recent concerns around government surveillance. In Congress, Representative Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Senator Leahy (D-Vt.) have introduced legislation—the USA Freedom Act—that would codify many of these principles. As they both noted when introducing this bill, government surveillance programs “have come at a high cost to Americans’ privacy rights, business interests and standing in the international community.”

The USA Freedom Act reflects some of the key recommendations made by the President’s Review Group on Intelligence Communications and Technologies as well as the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. We support this legislation and we urge Congress to enact it into law.

But there’s more that can be done as we consider appropriate reforms to government surveillance laws. Congress should update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to require governmental entities to obtain a warrant before they can compel online companies to disclose the content of users’ communications. Legislation introduced by Senators Leahy and Lee (R-Utah) in the Senate and Representatives Yoder (R-Kan.), Graves (R-Ga.), and Polis (D-Colo.) in the House would achieve that goal. More than 100 companies, trade associations, and consumer groups—and more than 100,000 Americans—have signed on to support this important update to ECPA, which no longer reflects users’ reasonable expectations of privacy.

We will continue to press Congress to adopt these important measures, which would represent significant progress in the broader effort to reform government surveillance laws. If you want to receive updates from us, please visit google.com/takeaction and sign up. ]]> Posted by Susan Molinari, VP Public Policy 

The revelations about government surveillance practices—both in the U.S. and globally—over the past eight months have sparked a serious and overdue debate about the nature and scope of existing laws and programs. Today, many organizations and companies are participating in “The Day We Fight Back,” a series of events and awareness campaigns highlighting the urgent need for surveillance reform around the world.

Google recognizes the very real threats that the U.S. and other countries face, but we strongly believe that government surveillance programs should operate under a legal framework that is rule-bound, narrowly tailored, transparent, and subject to oversight.

In December, along with other technology companies, we unveiled a set of government surveillance reform principles that address many of the recent concerns around government surveillance. In Congress, Representative Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Senator Leahy (D-Vt.) have introduced legislation—the USA Freedom Act—that would codify many of these principles. As they both noted when introducing this bill, government surveillance programs “have come at a high cost to Americans’ privacy rights, business interests and standing in the international community.”

The USA Freedom Act reflects some of the key recommendations made by the President’s Review Group on Intelligence Communications and Technologies as well as the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. We support this legislation and we urge Congress to enact it into law.

But there’s more that can be done as we consider appropriate reforms to government surveillance laws. Congress should update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to require governmental entities to obtain a warrant before they can compel online companies to disclose the content of users’ communications. Legislation introduced by Senators Leahy and Lee (R-Utah) in the Senate and Representatives Yoder (R-Kan.), Graves (R-Ga.), and Polis (D-Colo.) in the House would achieve that goal. More than 100 companies, trade associations, and consumer groups—and more than 100,000 Americans—have signed on to support this important update to ECPA, which no longer reflects users’ reasonable expectations of privacy.

We will continue to press Congress to adopt these important measures, which would represent significant progress in the broader effort to reform government surveillance laws. If you want to receive updates from us, please visit google.com/takeaction and sign up. ]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/its-time-to-reform-government-surveillance-laws/feed/ 0 Keeping Your Tax Identity Safe https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/keeping-your-tax-identity-safe/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=keeping-your-tax-identity-safe https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/keeping-your-tax-identity-safe/#comments Tue, 21 Jan 2014 20:21:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=0f5e36639ea289e6c6ddadbe8f61598a Posted by Rob Mahini, Policy Counsel

Once upon a time, Tax Day meant pens and pencils, paper forms, and long waits at the post office. Now, the Internet makes tax day much simpler -- online software and e-Filing now allows everyone a much smoother Tax Day experience. Unfortunately, the Internet also makes something else easier: tax identity theft that allows scammers to do things like file for fraudulent tax refunds or apply for jobs.

As the FTC noted earlier this month, "identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to the FTC for 13 consecutive years, and tax identity theft has been an increasing share of the Commission’s identity theft complaints." In fact, tax ID theft accounted for more than 43 percent of the FTC's ID theft complaints, "making it the largest category of identity theft complaints by a substantial margin."

With this in mind, the FTC hosted events around the country last week as part of its Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week, to educate consumers about the risks of tax identity theft and how to avoid becoming a victim. The IRS also released a video this month to educate taxpayers on what to do if they are victimized by tax ID theft.

At Google's Good To Know site, consumers can learn about the many ways that they can protect all of their data, including their SSN, tax forms, and other information that tax identity thieves are after. For example:
  • Don’t reply if you see a suspicious email, instant message or webpage asking for your personal or financial information. Identity thieves try to use these phishing techniques to steal your information such as your social security number or other tax info. 
  • If you see a message from someone you know that doesn’t seem like them, their account might have been compromised by a cyber criminal who is trying to con you into providing your SSN or other sensitive information. 
  • Don’t send your password via email, and don’t share your password with others -- thieves that gain access to your accounts can then steal your tax identity. Legitimate sites won’t ask you to send them your passwords via email, so don’t respond if you get requests for your passwords to online sites.

The ease and convenience of the Internet has helped simplify tax filing. And following these tips will help keep your tax information safe in the process.]]> Posted by Rob Mahini, Policy Counsel

Once upon a time, Tax Day meant pens and pencils, paper forms, and long waits at the post office. Now, the Internet makes tax day much simpler -- online software and e-Filing now allows everyone a much smoother Tax Day experience. Unfortunately, the Internet also makes something else easier: tax identity theft that allows scammers to do things like file for fraudulent tax refunds or apply for jobs.

As the FTC noted earlier this month, "identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to the FTC for 13 consecutive years, and tax identity theft has been an increasing share of the Commission’s identity theft complaints." In fact, tax ID theft accounted for more than 43 percent of the FTC's ID theft complaints, "making it the largest category of identity theft complaints by a substantial margin."

With this in mind, the FTC hosted events around the country last week as part of its Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week, to educate consumers about the risks of tax identity theft and how to avoid becoming a victim. The IRS also released a video this month to educate taxpayers on what to do if they are victimized by tax ID theft.

At Google's Good To Know site, consumers can learn about the many ways that they can protect all of their data, including their SSN, tax forms, and other information that tax identity thieves are after. For example:
  • Don’t reply if you see a suspicious email, instant message or webpage asking for your personal or financial information. Identity thieves try to use these phishing techniques to steal your information such as your social security number or other tax info. 
  • If you see a message from someone you know that doesn’t seem like them, their account might have been compromised by a cyber criminal who is trying to con you into providing your SSN or other sensitive information. 
  • Don’t send your password via email, and don’t share your password with others -- thieves that gain access to your accounts can then steal your tax identity. Legitimate sites won’t ask you to send them your passwords via email, so don’t respond if you get requests for your passwords to online sites.

The ease and convenience of the Internet has helped simplify tax filing. And following these tips will help keep your tax information safe in the process.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/keeping-your-tax-identity-safe/feed/ 0 Busting Bad Advertising Practices — 2013 Year in Review https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/busting-bad-advertising-practices-2013-year-in-review-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=busting-bad-advertising-practices-2013-year-in-review-2 https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/busting-bad-advertising-practices-2013-year-in-review-2/#comments Fri, 17 Jan 2014 15:19:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=6e7ad87810acffb5bcab82a59a95784a Posted by: Mike Hochberg, Director, Ads Engineering

(Cross-posted from the Google AdWords Blog)

Advertising helps fund great web services and enables companies of all sizes to grow their businesses online. However, this economy can also attract bad actors that want to abuse online advertising tools for harmful or deceptive purposes.

We've allocated substantial technical, financial, and human resources to stopping bad advertising practices and protecting users on the web. Hundreds of our engineers, policy experts and others have dedicated their careers to this work.

Following up on our 2012 report, below is an overview of how we fought bad ads and bad ad-funded content in 2013.

Stopping more bad ads from fewer bad sources

We removed more than 350 million bad ads from our systems in 2013. To put that in perspective, if someone looked at each of these for one second, it would take them more than ten years to see them all. This was a significant increase from approximately 220 million ads removed in 2012. This trend has been consistent in the last several years and we attribute it to several factors, including: the growth of online advertising overall and constant improvement of our detection systems.

The number of advertisers we disabled, however, dropped from over 850,000 in 2012 to more than 270,000 in 2013. In part, we attribute this decline to scammers — counterfeiters, for example — being thwarted by our safety screens and searching for less-secure targets.

Counter-attacking counterfeiters

We continue to see positive results in our work to combat counterfeiters. Attempts to market counterfeit goods on AdWords decreased by 47% in 2012 and 82% in 2013. In parallel, the volume of complaints about these ads dropped by 85% in 2012 and by another 78% in 2013.

As these numbers have declined, we’re pleased to report that we’ve also banned fewer bad advertisers for counterfeit violations. Last year, we banned approximately 14,000 advertisers for trying to sell counterfeit goods — a decline of more than 80% compared to 2012.

Preventing good ads from funding bad content

Maintaining a healthy ads ecosystem isn’t just about stopping bad ads and advertisers; we closely monitor the sites and mobile apps that show our ads as well. Early last year, we outlined some of this work, with a particular focus on our efforts to stop scammy ad-funded software, like toolbars, that provides a poor user-experience.

By the end of 2013, we had blacklisted more than 200,000 total publisher pages, an encouraging decline from last year, and disapproved more than 3,000,000 attempts to join our AdSense network. We also removed more than 250,000 publisher accounts for various policy violations. This includes more than 5,000 account removals for violating our copyright policies, an increase of more than 25% compared to 2012.

Here’s a more complete overview of our work to bust bad advertising practices in 2013:


This is an ever-evolving and ongoing fight. Bad actors are relentless, often very sophisticated and will not rest on their laurels. But neither will we. Nothing is more important than the security of our users and we’ll continue to work tirelessly to keep them safe online.]]> Posted by: Mike Hochberg, Director, Ads Engineering

(Cross-posted from the Google AdWords Blog)

Advertising helps fund great web services and enables companies of all sizes to grow their businesses online. However, this economy can also attract bad actors that want to abuse online advertising tools for harmful or deceptive purposes.

We've allocated substantial technical, financial, and human resources to stopping bad advertising practices and protecting users on the web. Hundreds of our engineers, policy experts and others have dedicated their careers to this work.

Following up on our 2012 report, below is an overview of how we fought bad ads and bad ad-funded content in 2013.

Stopping more bad ads from fewer bad sources

We removed more than 350 million bad ads from our systems in 2013. To put that in perspective, if someone looked at each of these for one second, it would take them more than ten years to see them all. This was a significant increase from approximately 220 million ads removed in 2012. This trend has been consistent in the last several years and we attribute it to several factors, including: the growth of online advertising overall and constant improvement of our detection systems.

The number of advertisers we disabled, however, dropped from over 850,000 in 2012 to more than 270,000 in 2013. In part, we attribute this decline to scammers — counterfeiters, for example — being thwarted by our safety screens and searching for less-secure targets.

Counter-attacking counterfeiters

We continue to see positive results in our work to combat counterfeiters. Attempts to market counterfeit goods on AdWords decreased by 47% in 2012 and 82% in 2013. In parallel, the volume of complaints about these ads dropped by 85% in 2012 and by another 78% in 2013.

As these numbers have declined, we’re pleased to report that we’ve also banned fewer bad advertisers for counterfeit violations. Last year, we banned approximately 14,000 advertisers for trying to sell counterfeit goods — a decline of more than 80% compared to 2012.

Preventing good ads from funding bad content

Maintaining a healthy ads ecosystem isn’t just about stopping bad ads and advertisers; we closely monitor the sites and mobile apps that show our ads as well. Early last year, we outlined some of this work, with a particular focus on our efforts to stop scammy ad-funded software, like toolbars, that provides a poor user-experience.

By the end of 2013, we had blacklisted more than 200,000 total publisher pages, an encouraging decline from last year, and disapproved more than 3,000,000 attempts to join our AdSense network. We also removed more than 250,000 publisher accounts for various policy violations. This includes more than 5,000 account removals for violating our copyright policies, an increase of more than 25% compared to 2012.

Here’s a more complete overview of our work to bust bad advertising practices in 2013:


This is an ever-evolving and ongoing fight. Bad actors are relentless, often very sophisticated and will not rest on their laurels. But neither will we. Nothing is more important than the security of our users and we’ll continue to work tirelessly to keep them safe online.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/busting-bad-advertising-practices-2013-year-in-review-2/feed/ 0 Global Network Initiative sets important precedent for transparency https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/global-network-initiative-sets-important-precedent-for-transparency/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=global-network-initiative-sets-important-precedent-for-transparency https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/global-network-initiative-sets-important-precedent-for-transparency/#comments Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:50:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=29cf5234de511c3b4e5c01ba13a756f8 Posted by: Ross LaJeunesse, Global Head of Free Expression and International Relations, and Lewis Segall, Senior Counsel

Five years ago, when we became founding members of the Global Network Initiative (GNI), we agreed that outside assessors would review how we’re doing against GNI’s Principles on Freedom of Expression and Privacy. GNI brings together diverse stakeholders to address the risks to a free and open Internet, and conducting these assessments is an important part of the organization's mandate.

This morning, GNI released its first ever Company Assessment Report. The organization used independent assessors to look into whether the GNI’s three founding companies -- Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft -- are upholding GNI’s principles in practice. After reviewing specific cases on how Google is implementing the principles, the board found that we are compliant and working to protect freedom of expression and privacy online.

Even though it can be uncomfortable to open up to outside scrutiny, we believe the assessment is a useful model for companies, NGOs, academics, and others working together to assess how companies respond to government requests related to human rights.

Today’s report also supports the organization’s other primary task, advocacy -- ensuring that governments everywhere protect privacy and free expression online. If you’re interested in learning more about how Google responds to government demands for user information and content removal, check out our Transparency Report. ]]> Posted by: Ross LaJeunesse, Global Head of Free Expression and International Relations, and Lewis Segall, Senior Counsel

Five years ago, when we became founding members of the Global Network Initiative (GNI), we agreed that outside assessors would review how we’re doing against GNI’s Principles on Freedom of Expression and Privacy. GNI brings together diverse stakeholders to address the risks to a free and open Internet, and conducting these assessments is an important part of the organization's mandate.

This morning, GNI released its first ever Company Assessment Report. The organization used independent assessors to look into whether the GNI’s three founding companies -- Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft -- are upholding GNI’s principles in practice. After reviewing specific cases on how Google is implementing the principles, the board found that we are compliant and working to protect freedom of expression and privacy online.

Even though it can be uncomfortable to open up to outside scrutiny, we believe the assessment is a useful model for companies, NGOs, academics, and others working together to assess how companies respond to government requests related to human rights.

Today’s report also supports the organization’s other primary task, advocacy -- ensuring that governments everywhere protect privacy and free expression online. If you’re interested in learning more about how Google responds to government demands for user information and content removal, check out our Transparency Report. ]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/global-network-initiative-sets-important-precedent-for-transparency/feed/ 0 Innovation, Not Litigation https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/innovation-not-litigation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=innovation-not-litigation https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/innovation-not-litigation/#comments Wed, 04 Dec 2013 20:50:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=f49053574d44ab677d36f3e61cf93734 Posted by Kent Walker, SVP & General Counsel

Tomorrow the House of Representatives will consider H.R. 3309, the Innovation Act. This bipartisan bill, introduced by Chairman Bob Goodlatte, approved by the House Judiciary Committee with a 33-5 vote, and supported by the White House, would go a long way to solve the patent troll problem.

The Innovation Act would address the explosion of abusive patent litigation, helping the patent system work as intended — promoting innovation.

Patent protection is meant to provide an incentive to innovate, spurring real progress that benefits consumers. Unfortunately, patent trolls are abusing a flood of questionable patents — like those on basic e-commerce tools such as online shopping carts and shipment notification emails — to attack supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, retailers, and many other businesses, large and small. Trolls use the threat of time-consuming and expensive litigation to extort settlements, even where their claims wouldn’t hold up in court.

This kind of patent troll litigation has grown like a particularly noxious weed, increasing four-fold since 2005. By some estimates it cost the U.S. economy nearly $500 billion over the past two decades. And the problem is growing.

It’s time to step up and take action. A broad coalition of companies and organizations support the Innovation Act, which would level the playing field by controlling discovery costs, raising pleading standards, and making fee-shifting a more meaningful deterrent to frivolous allegations. We agree with Chairman Goodlatte on the need to stop the exponential increase in the use of dubious patents to attack American businesses. And we believe that legislation can go further to address the significant burden that invalid business method patents impose on innovative companies.

We strongly support Chairman Goodlatte's bill and encourage all Members of Congress to vote for this important piece of legislation. The Innovation Act would stop patent trolls from abusing the system, letting America’s productive companies focus on creating new products and jobs, not fighting frivolous patent suits.]]> Posted by Kent Walker, SVP & General Counsel

Tomorrow the House of Representatives will consider H.R. 3309, the Innovation Act. This bipartisan bill, introduced by Chairman Bob Goodlatte, approved by the House Judiciary Committee with a 33-5 vote, and supported by the White House, would go a long way to solve the patent troll problem.

The Innovation Act would address the explosion of abusive patent litigation, helping the patent system work as intended — promoting innovation.

Patent protection is meant to provide an incentive to innovate, spurring real progress that benefits consumers. Unfortunately, patent trolls are abusing a flood of questionable patents — like those on basic e-commerce tools such as online shopping carts and shipment notification emails — to attack supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, retailers, and many other businesses, large and small. Trolls use the threat of time-consuming and expensive litigation to extort settlements, even where their claims wouldn’t hold up in court.

This kind of patent troll litigation has grown like a particularly noxious weed, increasing four-fold since 2005. By some estimates it cost the U.S. economy nearly $500 billion over the past two decades. And the problem is growing.

It’s time to step up and take action. A broad coalition of companies and organizations support the Innovation Act, which would level the playing field by controlling discovery costs, raising pleading standards, and making fee-shifting a more meaningful deterrent to frivolous allegations. We agree with Chairman Goodlatte on the need to stop the exponential increase in the use of dubious patents to attack American businesses. And we believe that legislation can go further to address the significant burden that invalid business method patents impose on innovative companies.

We strongly support Chairman Goodlatte's bill and encourage all Members of Congress to vote for this important piece of legislation. The Innovation Act would stop patent trolls from abusing the system, letting America’s productive companies focus on creating new products and jobs, not fighting frivolous patent suits.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/innovation-not-litigation/feed/ 0 Launching our spectrum database to help users dynamically access TV white space spectrum https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/launching-our-spectrum-database-to-help-users-dynamically-access-tv-white-space-spectrum/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=launching-our-spectrum-database-to-help-users-dynamically-access-tv-white-space-spectrum https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/launching-our-spectrum-database-to-help-users-dynamically-access-tv-white-space-spectrum/#comments Thu, 14 Nov 2013 14:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=1e1cd31baf4fc4ddc192bd922a52ec58 Posted by Alan Norman, Access Principal

Spectrum is an essential resource to fuel the Internet's future—it can power improved broadband access and spark innovation in wireless technology. And, as with any important resource, effective management can help make sure we're making the most of what's available. Both policy and technology have a role to play in making sure that spectrum is managed, allocated, and shared in ways that can help the Internet grow.

Google's Spectrum Database is one such technology, developed to enable dynamic sharing of TV white space spectrum; this allows parties to use spectrum when they need it, and make it available to other users when they don't. In July 2013, we were certified by the FCC to operate the database for commercial use. Since then, early testers have provided feedback and insights on future innovations. Testers included GE Industrial Communications, which used the database to explore how it could enable new communication options for its Industrial Internet products.

Now, we're launching a developer API for the database that enables general exploration for any user, as well as a commercial account option for device manufacturers. The commercial account allows equipment makers to register their devices with our database in order to operate on available TV white space.

Adaptrum is the first device manufacturer to be certified to use our Spectrum Database, and is already using the tool in the field for a white space deployment, providing public Wi-Fi on the campus of West Virginia University (WVU). The white space network, which is managed by Air.U co-founder Declaration Networks, uses Adaptrum's equipment integrated with our Spectrum Database. The collaboration shows how dynamic spectrum sharing can help deliver broadband coverage and capacity to more rural areas.

We hope that the database continues to support new opportunities like the WVU white space network. With forward-looking policy as well technology advances, we can further encourage dynamic spectrum sharing and the wireless innovation that it supports.

Please contact GE Industrial Communications, Air.U, or Adaptrum for more information on their work.
]]> Posted by Alan Norman, Access Principal

Spectrum is an essential resource to fuel the Internet's future—it can power improved broadband access and spark innovation in wireless technology. And, as with any important resource, effective management can help make sure we're making the most of what's available. Both policy and technology have a role to play in making sure that spectrum is managed, allocated, and shared in ways that can help the Internet grow.

Google's Spectrum Database is one such technology, developed to enable dynamic sharing of TV white space spectrum; this allows parties to use spectrum when they need it, and make it available to other users when they don't. In July 2013, we were certified by the FCC to operate the database for commercial use. Since then, early testers have provided feedback and insights on future innovations. Testers included GE Industrial Communications, which used the database to explore how it could enable new communication options for its Industrial Internet products.

Now, we're launching a developer API for the database that enables general exploration for any user, as well as a commercial account option for device manufacturers. The commercial account allows equipment makers to register their devices with our database in order to operate on available TV white space.

Adaptrum is the first device manufacturer to be certified to use our Spectrum Database, and is already using the tool in the field for a white space deployment, providing public Wi-Fi on the campus of West Virginia University (WVU). The white space network, which is managed by Air.U co-founder Declaration Networks, uses Adaptrum's equipment integrated with our Spectrum Database. The collaboration shows how dynamic spectrum sharing can help deliver broadband coverage and capacity to more rural areas.

We hope that the database continues to support new opportunities like the WVU white space network. With forward-looking policy as well technology advances, we can further encourage dynamic spectrum sharing and the wireless innovation that it supports.

Please contact GE Industrial Communications, Air.U, or Adaptrum for more information on their work.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/launching-our-spectrum-database-to-help-users-dynamically-access-tv-white-space-spectrum/feed/ 0 Government requests for user information double over three years https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/government-requests-for-user-information-double-over-three-years/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=government-requests-for-user-information-double-over-three-years https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/government-requests-for-user-information-double-over-three-years/#comments Thu, 14 Nov 2013 12:10:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=5f4946a26afb3eb35a131c8ab08d598f
Cross-posted with the Official Google Blog

posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security

In a year in which government surveillance has dominated the headlines, today we're updating our Transparency Report for the eighth time. Since we began sharing these figures with you in 2010, requests from governments for user information have increased by more than 100 percent. This comes as usage of our services continues to grow, but also as more governments have made requests than ever before. And these numbers only include the requests we're allowed to publish.


Over the past three years, we've continued to add more details to the report, and we're doing so again today. We're including additional information about legal process for U.S. criminal requests: breaking out emergency disclosures, wiretap orders, pen register orders and other court orders.

We want to go even further. We believe it's your right to know what kinds of requests and how many each government is making of us and other companies. However, the U.S. Department of Justice contends that U.S. law does not allow us to share information about some national security requests that we might receive. Specifically, the U.S. government argues that we cannot share information about the requests we receive (if any) under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But you deserve to know.

Earlier this year, we brought a federal case to assert that we do indeed have the right to shine more light on the FISA process. In addition, we recently wrote a letter of support for two pieces of legislation currently proposed in the U.S. Congress. And we're asking governments around the world to uphold international legal agreements that respect the laws of different countries and guarantee standards for due process are met.

Our promise to you is to continue to make this report robust, to defend your information from overly broad government requests, and to push for greater transparency around the world.

We strongly believe that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) must be updated in this Congress, and we urge Congress to expeditiously enact a bright-line, warrant-for-content rule. Governmental entities should be required to obtain a warrant—issued based on a showing of probable cause—before requiring companies like Google to disclose the content of users' electronic communications.
]]>
Cross-posted with the Official Google Blog

posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security

In a year in which government surveillance has dominated the headlines, today we're updating our Transparency Report for the eighth time. Since we began sharing these figures with you in 2010, requests from governments for user information have increased by more than 100 percent. This comes as usage of our services continues to grow, but also as more governments have made requests than ever before. And these numbers only include the requests we're allowed to publish.


Over the past three years, we've continued to add more details to the report, and we're doing so again today. We're including additional information about legal process for U.S. criminal requests: breaking out emergency disclosures, wiretap orders, pen register orders and other court orders.

We want to go even further. We believe it's your right to know what kinds of requests and how many each government is making of us and other companies. However, the U.S. Department of Justice contends that U.S. law does not allow us to share information about some national security requests that we might receive. Specifically, the U.S. government argues that we cannot share information about the requests we receive (if any) under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But you deserve to know.

Earlier this year, we brought a federal case to assert that we do indeed have the right to shine more light on the FISA process. In addition, we recently wrote a letter of support for two pieces of legislation currently proposed in the U.S. Congress. And we're asking governments around the world to uphold international legal agreements that respect the laws of different countries and guarantee standards for due process are met.

Our promise to you is to continue to make this report robust, to defend your information from overly broad government requests, and to push for greater transparency around the world.

We strongly believe that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) must be updated in this Congress, and we urge Congress to expeditiously enact a bright-line, warrant-for-content rule. Governmental entities should be required to obtain a warrant—issued based on a showing of probable cause—before requiring companies like Google to disclose the content of users' electronic communications.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/government-requests-for-user-information-double-over-three-years/feed/ 0 Testifying before the U.S. Senate on transparency legislation https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/testifying-before-the-u-s-senate-on-transparency-legislation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=testifying-before-the-u-s-senate-on-transparency-legislation https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/testifying-before-the-u-s-senate-on-transparency-legislation/#comments Wed, 13 Nov 2013 15:16:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=19256668f63290212a17923e1d7ceb7c Posted by Pablo Chavez, Director, Public Policy and Government Affairs

This morning, Richard Salgado, Director of Law Enforcement and Information Security, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law on the Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013.

We commend Senators Franken and Heller for introducing this bill, which would allow Internet service providers to disclose basic statistics about requests we receive from law enforcement for users’ information in the course of a national security investigation. The current lack of transparency about government surveillance programs undermines trust, economic growth and security, and the promise of the Internet as a platform for openness.

More transparency can help fix that. Since 2010, our Transparency Report has shed light on requests for user data that we receive from the government. We strive to surface new and useful data with every update. Richard’s testimony details our efforts to be allowed to disclose statistics about FISA requests that we may receive, including our motion before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Transparency is crucial, but it is only one step among many needed. As we wrote to Congress two weeks ago, it is clear that the U.S. government and other governments must examine broader reforms to government surveillance.

You can read Richard’s written testimony and watch the webcast of the hearing starting at 10:00 AM Eastern.
]]> Posted by Pablo Chavez, Director, Public Policy and Government Affairs

This morning, Richard Salgado, Director of Law Enforcement and Information Security, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law on the Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013.

We commend Senators Franken and Heller for introducing this bill, which would allow Internet service providers to disclose basic statistics about requests we receive from law enforcement for users’ information in the course of a national security investigation. The current lack of transparency about government surveillance programs undermines trust, economic growth and security, and the promise of the Internet as a platform for openness.

More transparency can help fix that. Since 2010, our Transparency Report has shed light on requests for user data that we receive from the government. We strive to surface new and useful data with every update. Richard’s testimony details our efforts to be allowed to disclose statistics about FISA requests that we may receive, including our motion before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Transparency is crucial, but it is only one step among many needed. As we wrote to Congress two weeks ago, it is clear that the U.S. government and other governments must examine broader reforms to government surveillance.

You can read Richard’s written testimony and watch the webcast of the hearing starting at 10:00 AM Eastern.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/testifying-before-the-u-s-senate-on-transparency-legislation/feed/ 0 Joining forces to advocate for a more affordable Internet https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/joining-forces-to-advocate-for-a-more-affordable-internet/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=joining-forces-to-advocate-for-a-more-affordable-internet https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/joining-forces-to-advocate-for-a-more-affordable-internet/#comments Mon, 07 Oct 2013 04:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=c69c8c20e49853496fae1341adf8b927
Imagine a world where you spent 30% of your monthly income on basic Internet service. Could you pay? What might you have to give up? For billions of people, these costs—and questions—are an unaffordable reality that stop them from accessing the Web.

Today, Google is joining more than 30 members to launch the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), a new coalition that cuts across boundaries of geography, sector, or size. Our goal? To help bring down Internet costs through policy change.

New technologies play a crucial role in bringing the Internet to more people worldwide—we’ve developed and invested in many of these big ideas over the years. We broke new ground with balloon-powered Internet access, are bringing broadband to Africa with TV White Spaces, and are funding organizations like the Internet Society to develop Internet Exchange Points in emerging markets.

These technologies can have major impact, but no single solution can connect the 5 billion people living without Internet access today. Policy change can help new innovation take hold and flourish; outdated policies can stifle progress. In Kenya and other markets that have adopted national broadband plans, policy change has delivered results, fast. A4AI will focus on those policy changes that can bolster new access technologies and initiatives and make the Internet more affordable to people worldwide.

Initiated by the World Wide Web Foundation, A4AI includes members from the technology, government, and nonprofit worlds, from developed and developing countries. Google—along with other Global Sponsors—joined the alliance in its early days to help establish the vision that exists today, as well as rally more members that share our mission for affordable Internet access.

A4AI has a specific goal in mind: to reach the UN Broadband Commission target of entry-level broadband access priced at less than 5% of monthly income worldwide. (According to the ITU, households in the developing world pay roughly 30% of monthly income for a fixed connection, so there’s a lot of work to do.) We’re working with A4AI on several initial projects, including:

  • Publishing a set of policy and regulatory best practices
  • Working directly with governments, with plans to engage with 10+ countries by the end of 2015
  • Releasing the first edition of an annual affordability report

Ultimately, A4AI is about making the world a more connected place. Over 90% of people in the 49 least developed countries are still not online. A4AI wants to help people in these countries to get access, to find a door to new information, opportunities, and ideas. Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the honorary chairperson of A4AI, has called for the need to remove “analog policies that are holding back the digital revolution” in emerging markets.

We couldn’t agree more.]]>
Imagine a world where you spent 30% of your monthly income on basic Internet service. Could you pay? What might you have to give up? For billions of people, these costs—and questions—are an unaffordable reality that stop them from accessing the Web.

Today, Google is joining more than 30 members to launch the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), a new coalition that cuts across boundaries of geography, sector, or size. Our goal? To help bring down Internet costs through policy change.

New technologies play a crucial role in bringing the Internet to more people worldwide—we’ve developed and invested in many of these big ideas over the years. We broke new ground with balloon-powered Internet access, are bringing broadband to Africa with TV White Spaces, and are funding organizations like the Internet Society to develop Internet Exchange Points in emerging markets.

These technologies can have major impact, but no single solution can connect the 5 billion people living without Internet access today. Policy change can help new innovation take hold and flourish; outdated policies can stifle progress. In Kenya and other markets that have adopted national broadband plans, policy change has delivered results, fast. A4AI will focus on those policy changes that can bolster new access technologies and initiatives and make the Internet more affordable to people worldwide.

Initiated by the World Wide Web Foundation, A4AI includes members from the technology, government, and nonprofit worlds, from developed and developing countries. Google—along with other Global Sponsors—joined the alliance in its early days to help establish the vision that exists today, as well as rally more members that share our mission for affordable Internet access.

A4AI has a specific goal in mind: to reach the UN Broadband Commission target of entry-level broadband access priced at less than 5% of monthly income worldwide. (According to the ITU, households in the developing world pay roughly 30% of monthly income for a fixed connection, so there’s a lot of work to do.) We’re working with A4AI on several initial projects, including:

  • Publishing a set of policy and regulatory best practices
  • Working directly with governments, with plans to engage with 10+ countries by the end of 2015
  • Releasing the first edition of an annual affordability report

Ultimately, A4AI is about making the world a more connected place. Over 90% of people in the 49 least developed countries are still not online. A4AI wants to help people in these countries to get access, to find a door to new information, opportunities, and ideas. Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the honorary chairperson of A4AI, has called for the need to remove “analog policies that are holding back the digital revolution” in emerging markets.

We couldn’t agree more.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/joining-forces-to-advocate-for-a-more-affordable-internet/feed/ 0 Broadening Google Patents https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/broadening-google-patents/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=broadening-google-patents https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/broadening-google-patents/#comments Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:15:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=bf6d2c5aab7352caae255b0227f11ba2 Cross-posted with the European Public Policy Blog and Inside Search Blog.

Last year, we launched two improvements to Google Patents: the Prior Art Finder and European Patent Office (EPO) patents. Today we’re happy to announce the addition of documents from four new patent agencies: China, Germany, Canada, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Many of these documents may provide prior art for future patent applications, and we hope their increased discoverability will improve the quality of patents in the U.S. and worldwide.

So if you want to learn about a Chinese dual-drive bicycle, a German valve for inflating bicycle tires, attach a Canadian trailer to your bike, or read the WIPO application for pedalling with one leg, those and millions of other inventions are now available on Google Patents.

Thanks to Google Translate, all patents are available in both their original languages and in English, and you can search across the world’s patents using terms in any of those languages. When there are multiple submission languages, you can move between them with a single click on the tabs at the top of the page, as shown in the screenshot below:



Happy patent searching!

Posted by Jon Orwant, Engineering Manager
]]> Cross-posted with the European Public Policy Blog and Inside Search Blog.

Last year, we launched two improvements to Google Patents: the Prior Art Finder and European Patent Office (EPO) patents. Today we’re happy to announce the addition of documents from four new patent agencies: China, Germany, Canada, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Many of these documents may provide prior art for future patent applications, and we hope their increased discoverability will improve the quality of patents in the U.S. and worldwide.

So if you want to learn about a Chinese dual-drive bicycle, a German valve for inflating bicycle tires, attach a Canadian trailer to your bike, or read the WIPO application for pedalling with one leg, those and millions of other inventions are now available on Google Patents.

Thanks to Google Translate, all patents are available in both their original languages and in English, and you can search across the world’s patents using terms in any of those languages. When there are multiple submission languages, you can move between them with a single click on the tabs at the top of the page, as shown in the screenshot below:



Happy patent searching!

Posted by Jon Orwant, Engineering Manager
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/broadening-google-patents/feed/ 0 Report: How Google fights piracy https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/report-how-google-fights-piracy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=report-how-google-fights-piracy https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/report-how-google-fights-piracy/#comments Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:07:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=584a6bc2b9d475a2d36133b43057f791 Posted by Fred von Lohmann, Legal Director, Copyright

More music, video, text and software is being created on the Internet by more people in more places than ever before. Every kind of creative endeavor, both amateur and professional, is being transformed by the new opportunities and lower costs made possible by digital tools and online distribution. But copyright infringement remains a problem online, and Google is working hard to tackle it.

Today, we are releasing a report, “How Google Fights Piracy,” bringing together in one place an overview of the programs, policies, and technologies we have put in place to combat piracy online. Here are few highlights:

  • Better Legal Alternatives: The best way to fight piracy is with better, convenient, legal alternatives. On YouTube and Play, Google is committed to creating those compelling alternatives for users. Each time a music fan chooses YouTube or Play over an unauthorized source, for example, it’s a victory against piracy. And thousands of copyright owners now use Content ID on YouTube to elect to monetize user-generated content on YouTube, rather than take it down, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties from Google each year.
  • Follow the Money: When it comes to rogue sites that specialize in online piracy, other anti-piracy strategies will have limited effect so long as there is money to be made by their operators. As a global leader in online advertising, Google is committed to rooting out and ejecting rogue sites from our advertising services, to ensure that they are not being misused to fund these sites. In 2012, we disabled ad serving to more than 46,000 sites for violating our copyright policies, the vast majority detected through our proactive efforts. We are also working with other leaders in the industry to craft best practices aimed at raising standards across the entire online advertising industry. 
  • Removing Infringing Results from Search: When it comes to Search, Google is a leader in addressing the concerns of copyright owners, responding to more copyright removal notices, and faster, than ever before. During 2012, copyright owners and their agents sent us removal notices for more than 57 million web pages. Our turnaround time on those notices was, on average, less than 6 hours. That’s faster than we managed in 2011, despite a 15-fold increase in the volume of requests. 

Hundreds of Google employees work on the problem of piracy online, and we will continue to work with copyright owners to focus our energies on combating the problem.]]> Posted by Fred von Lohmann, Legal Director, Copyright

More music, video, text and software is being created on the Internet by more people in more places than ever before. Every kind of creative endeavor, both amateur and professional, is being transformed by the new opportunities and lower costs made possible by digital tools and online distribution. But copyright infringement remains a problem online, and Google is working hard to tackle it.

Today, we are releasing a report, “How Google Fights Piracy,” bringing together in one place an overview of the programs, policies, and technologies we have put in place to combat piracy online. Here are few highlights:

  • Better Legal Alternatives: The best way to fight piracy is with better, convenient, legal alternatives. On YouTube and Play, Google is committed to creating those compelling alternatives for users. Each time a music fan chooses YouTube or Play over an unauthorized source, for example, it’s a victory against piracy. And thousands of copyright owners now use Content ID on YouTube to elect to monetize user-generated content on YouTube, rather than take it down, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties from Google each year.
  • Follow the Money: When it comes to rogue sites that specialize in online piracy, other anti-piracy strategies will have limited effect so long as there is money to be made by their operators. As a global leader in online advertising, Google is committed to rooting out and ejecting rogue sites from our advertising services, to ensure that they are not being misused to fund these sites. In 2012, we disabled ad serving to more than 46,000 sites for violating our copyright policies, the vast majority detected through our proactive efforts. We are also working with other leaders in the industry to craft best practices aimed at raising standards across the entire online advertising industry. 
  • Removing Infringing Results from Search: When it comes to Search, Google is a leader in addressing the concerns of copyright owners, responding to more copyright removal notices, and faster, than ever before. During 2012, copyright owners and their agents sent us removal notices for more than 57 million web pages. Our turnaround time on those notices was, on average, less than 6 hours. That’s faster than we managed in 2011, despite a 15-fold increase in the volume of requests. 

Hundreds of Google employees work on the problem of piracy online, and we will continue to work with copyright owners to focus our energies on combating the problem.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/report-how-google-fights-piracy/feed/ 0 Don’t get locked out: set up recovery options for your Google Account https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/dont-get-locked-out-set-up-recovery-options-for-your-google-account-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dont-get-locked-out-set-up-recovery-options-for-your-google-account-2 https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/dont-get-locked-out-set-up-recovery-options-for-your-google-account-2/#comments Mon, 09 Sep 2013 17:25:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=a88ac2d378960351fe7c5c3d7fa8d446
This summer we’re posting regularly with privacy and security tips. Knowing how to stay safe and secure online is important, which is why we created our Good to Know site with advice and tips for safe and savvy Internet use. -Ed.

Strong passwords help protect your accounts and information on the web. But forgetting your password is like losing your keys—you can end up locked out of your own home. It gets worse if your password gets compromised or stolen. Sometimes the thief will change your password so you can't get back into your own account—kind of like someone stealing your keys and then changing the lock.

If you've lost your Google password, you need a way to get back into your Google Account—and back to all of your stuff in Gmail, Maps, Google+ and YouTube. To help you, Google needs to be able to tell that you’re the rightful account owner even if you don't have the right password. There are a few easy steps you can take right now to make it easy for you—and no one else—to get into your Google Account if you forget or don’t know the password.

1. Add a recovery email address. By registering an alternate email address with your Google Account settings, you’re giving Google another way to reach you. If you forget your password, Google can send a link to that recovery email address so you can reset your password. Google can also use that email address to let you know if we detect something suspicious happening with your account.

Setting up your recovery options can help you get back in
if you get locked out of your Google Account

2. Add a phone number to your Google Account. Your mobile phone is the best way to regain access to your account if you forget your password. It's like the "fast lane" for account recovery: we text a code to the phone number you've registered with us, and you're back in business in no time. Your phone is more secure and reliable than other means of recovering your account. Methods like “secret” questions (asking your mother’s maiden name or city where you were born) may have answers that are easy to remember, but they are also possible for bad guys to uncover. And we’ve consistently seen that people who register a recovery phone are faster and more successful at getting their accounts back than those recovering their accounts via email.

You can also get a text message if Google detects that something suspicious is going on with your account. Giving a recovery phone number to Google won’t result in you being signed up for marketing lists or getting more calls from telemarketers. 3. Keep your recovery options up to date. It’s a good idea to check your recovery options every so often. For example, if you change your phone number after setting up your recovery options, take just a minute to update your recovery settings to match. We'll remind you of your current settings every so often to make it easier for you to keep them up to date.

That’s it! You can either update your recovery options next time you’re prompted, or you can take two minutes to do it right now on our Account recovery options page. For more advice on how to protect yourself and your family online, visit our Good to Know site, or check out some of the other posts in our series on staying safe and secure.]]>
This summer we’re posting regularly with privacy and security tips. Knowing how to stay safe and secure online is important, which is why we created our Good to Know site with advice and tips for safe and savvy Internet use. -Ed.

Strong passwords help protect your accounts and information on the web. But forgetting your password is like losing your keys—you can end up locked out of your own home. It gets worse if your password gets compromised or stolen. Sometimes the thief will change your password so you can't get back into your own account—kind of like someone stealing your keys and then changing the lock.

If you've lost your Google password, you need a way to get back into your Google Account—and back to all of your stuff in Gmail, Maps, Google+ and YouTube. To help you, Google needs to be able to tell that you’re the rightful account owner even if you don't have the right password. There are a few easy steps you can take right now to make it easy for you—and no one else—to get into your Google Account if you forget or don’t know the password.

1. Add a recovery email address. By registering an alternate email address with your Google Account settings, you’re giving Google another way to reach you. If you forget your password, Google can send a link to that recovery email address so you can reset your password. Google can also use that email address to let you know if we detect something suspicious happening with your account.

Setting up your recovery options can help you get back in
if you get locked out of your Google Account

2. Add a phone number to your Google Account. Your mobile phone is the best way to regain access to your account if you forget your password. It's like the "fast lane" for account recovery: we text a code to the phone number you've registered with us, and you're back in business in no time. Your phone is more secure and reliable than other means of recovering your account. Methods like “secret” questions (asking your mother’s maiden name or city where you were born) may have answers that are easy to remember, but they are also possible for bad guys to uncover. And we’ve consistently seen that people who register a recovery phone are faster and more successful at getting their accounts back than those recovering their accounts via email.

You can also get a text message if Google detects that something suspicious is going on with your account. Giving a recovery phone number to Google won’t result in you being signed up for marketing lists or getting more calls from telemarketers. 3. Keep your recovery options up to date. It’s a good idea to check your recovery options every so often. For example, if you change your phone number after setting up your recovery options, take just a minute to update your recovery settings to match. We'll remind you of your current settings every so often to make it easier for you to keep them up to date.

That’s it! You can either update your recovery options next time you’re prompted, or you can take two minutes to do it right now on our Account recovery options page. For more advice on how to protect yourself and your family online, visit our Good to Know site, or check out some of the other posts in our series on staying safe and secure.]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/dont-get-locked-out-set-up-recovery-options-for-your-google-account-2/feed/ 0 A petition for greater transparency https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-petition-for-greater-transparency/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-petition-for-greater-transparency https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-petition-for-greater-transparency/#comments Mon, 09 Sep 2013 14:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=81f1a09ea19f40895960f9946ff1292a
Today we filed an amended petition [PDF] in the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This petition mirrors the requests made to Congress and the President by our industry and civil liberties groups in a letter earlier this year. Namely, that Google be allowed to publish detailed statistics about the types (if any) of national security requests we receive under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including Section 702. Given the important public policy issues at stake, we have also asked the court to hold its hearing in open rather than behind closed doors. It’s time for more transparency.

In addition, along with a number of other companies and trade associations, we are also meeting the President’s Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies today. We’ll reiterate the same message there: that the levels of secrecy that have built up around national security requests undermine the basic freedoms that are at the heart of a democratic society.]]>
Today we filed an amended petition [PDF] in the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This petition mirrors the requests made to Congress and the President by our industry and civil liberties groups in a letter earlier this year. Namely, that Google be allowed to publish detailed statistics about the types (if any) of national security requests we receive under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including Section 702. Given the important public policy issues at stake, we have also asked the court to hold its hearing in open rather than behind closed doors. It’s time for more transparency.

In addition, along with a number of other companies and trade associations, we are also meeting the President’s Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies today. We’ll reiterate the same message there: that the levels of secrecy that have built up around national security requests undermine the basic freedoms that are at the heart of a democratic society. ]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/a-petition-for-greater-transparency/feed/ 0 More patents in the service of open source https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/more-patents-in-the-service-of-open-source-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=more-patents-in-the-service-of-open-source-2 https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/more-patents-in-the-service-of-open-source-2/#comments Thu, 08 Aug 2013 18:03:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=063a6f9142bff10e384f5dca022b4b4f
Posted by Duane Valz, Senior Patent Counsel


Open-source software has accelerated the pace of innovation in computing, leading to better products and services at lower cost. But as the impact of open-source software has grown, so too has the number of patent attacks against it.

In March, we announced an Open Patent Non-Assertion (OPN) Pledge—committing not to sue any user, distributor or developer of open-source software on specified patents, unless first attacked. Our goal was to encourage pro-competitive, defensive uses of patents to support open-source innovation.

Today we are pleased to expand the OPN Pledge to include an additional 79 patents. These patents cover software used to efficiently operate data centers, including middleware, distributed storage management, distributed database management, and alarm monitoring.

We acquired these patents from IBM and CA Technologies, companies that in 2005 were among the first to make open-source patent pledges. The goal of the patent system is to foster innovation, and we aim to use patents, whether acquired or developed internally, in support of that goal.

You can learn more about this second group of patents and the Pledge itself on our site, which we’ve also updated to make it easier to browse and download data on pledged patents.

To date, the patents we’ve included in the Pledge have generally related to “back-end” technologies: servers, data centers, and the like. But open-source software is also transforming the development of consumer products that people use every day—so stay tuned for additional extensions to patents covering those sorts of technologies.


]]>
Posted by Duane Valz, Senior Patent Counsel


Open-source software has accelerated the pace of innovation in computing, leading to better products and services at lower cost. But as the impact of open-source software has grown, so too has the number of patent attacks against it.

In March, we announced an Open Patent Non-Assertion (OPN) Pledge—committing not to sue any user, distributor or developer of open-source software on specified patents, unless first attacked. Our goal was to encourage pro-competitive, defensive uses of patents to support open-source innovation.

Today we are pleased to expand the OPN Pledge to include an additional 79 patents. These patents cover software used to efficiently operate data centers, including middleware, distributed storage management, distributed database management, and alarm monitoring.

We acquired these patents from IBM and CA Technologies, companies that in 2005 were among the first to make open-source patent pledges. The goal of the patent system is to foster innovation, and we aim to use patents, whether acquired or developed internally, in support of that goal.

You can learn more about this second group of patents and the Pledge itself on our site, which we’ve also updated to make it easier to browse and download data on pledged patents.

To date, the patents we’ve included in the Pledge have generally related to “back-end” technologies: servers, data centers, and the like. But open-source software is also transforming the development of consumer products that people use every day—so stay tuned for additional extensions to patents covering those sorts of technologies.


]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/more-patents-in-the-service-of-open-source-2/feed/ 0 Dude, where’s my phone? Simple steps to protect your Android device this summer. https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/dude-wheres-my-phone-simple-steps-to-protect-your-android-device-this-summer-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dude-wheres-my-phone-simple-steps-to-protect-your-android-device-this-summer-2 https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/dude-wheres-my-phone-simple-steps-to-protect-your-android-device-this-summer-2/#comments Fri, 02 Aug 2013 21:11:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=6da9a34d784ef28801511d693b846a2e Posted by Adrian Ludwig, Android Security Engineer

This summer we’re posting regularly with privacy and security tips. Knowing how to stay safe and secure online is important, which is why we created our Good to Know site with advice and tips for safe and savvy Internet use. -Ed.

With summer vacation in full swing, you’re likely out and about, using your smartphone or tablet to get answers on the go or check out the latest cool apps and games. But you don’t have to leave safety at home! In this post, we’re sharing a few tips and tools that you can easily set up if you’re on an Android phone or tablet to keep your device—and the contents inside—safe and secure, including a new service that makes it easy to locate a misplaced device.

1. Lock your device screen. Whether you’re on a phone or a tablet, it’s easy to set up a screen lock. This is important to do in case your device gets left in the back of a car, or you’re worried about someone picking up your phone and scrolling through your stuff. You can lock your device with a pin, password, pattern (or even your face!) by going to Settings > Personal > Security > Screen Lock.


2. Protect your phone from suspicious apps. We automatically scan Google Play to block and remove harmful apps. That makes Google Play the safest place to get Android apps. But Google Play can also help protect you even for apps you get elsewhere, like the web or a third-party app store. The first time you start to install an app from an unknown source, a message will pop up asking if you’d like Google to scan the file to make sure it’s not harmful. Tap “OK” to let Google help protect you from harmful apps.

3. Locate, ring and wipe a misplaced device. Have you ever lost your phone in between the couch cushions or left it in a restaurant? Later this month, you will be able to use a new service called Android Device Manager, which can quickly ring your phone at maximum volume so you can find it (even if it’s been silenced), or locate it on a map, in real time, using Android Device Manager. If your phone can’t be recovered, or has been stolen, you can quickly and securely erase all of the data on your device to keep your data from ending up in the wrong hands. The Android Device Manager will be available for devices running Android 2.2 and above, as part of Google Play. You can read the full announcement on the Android blog.


For more advice on how to protect yourself and your family online, visit our Good to Know site, and stay tuned for more posts in our security series.

]]> Posted by Adrian Ludwig, Android Security Engineer

This summer we’re posting regularly with privacy and security tips. Knowing how to stay safe and secure online is important, which is why we created our Good to Know site with advice and tips for safe and savvy Internet use. -Ed.

With summer vacation in full swing, you’re likely out and about, using your smartphone or tablet to get answers on the go or check out the latest cool apps and games. But you don’t have to leave safety at home! In this post, we’re sharing a few tips and tools that you can easily set up if you’re on an Android phone or tablet to keep your device—and the contents inside—safe and secure, including a new service that makes it easy to locate a misplaced device.

1. Lock your device screen. Whether you’re on a phone or a tablet, it’s easy to set up a screen lock. This is important to do in case your device gets left in the back of a car, or you’re worried about someone picking up your phone and scrolling through your stuff. You can lock your device with a pin, password, pattern (or even your face!) by going to Settings > Personal > Security > Screen Lock.


2. Protect your phone from suspicious apps. We automatically scan Google Play to block and remove harmful apps. That makes Google Play the safest place to get Android apps. But Google Play can also help protect you even for apps you get elsewhere, like the web or a third-party app store. The first time you start to install an app from an unknown source, a message will pop up asking if you’d like Google to scan the file to make sure it’s not harmful. Tap “OK” to let Google help protect you from harmful apps.

3. Locate, ring and wipe a misplaced device. Have you ever lost your phone in between the couch cushions or left it in a restaurant? Later this month, you will be able to use a new service called Android Device Manager, which can quickly ring your phone at maximum volume so you can find it (even if it’s been silenced), or locate it on a map, in real time, using Android Device Manager. If your phone can’t be recovered, or has been stolen, you can quickly and securely erase all of the data on your device to keep your data from ending up in the wrong hands. The Android Device Manager will be available for devices running Android 2.2 and above, as part of Google Play. You can read the full announcement on the Android blog.


For more advice on how to protect yourself and your family online, visit our Good to Know site, and stay tuned for more posts in our security series.

]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/dude-wheres-my-phone-simple-steps-to-protect-your-android-device-this-summer-2/feed/ 0 Increasing Online Awareness of Mental Health Services https://googledata.org/uncategorized/increasing-online-awareness-of-mental-health-services/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=increasing-online-awareness-of-mental-health-services https://googledata.org/uncategorized/increasing-online-awareness-of-mental-health-services/#comments Tue, 16 Jul 2013 18:29:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=d95f6435bd11ec7004ae6c439189f567
Posted by Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations

Nearly 45 million Americans are affected by illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Every day, thousands of nonprofit organizations across the country are providing critical life-saving assistance for people who increasingly turn to online communities for help.

On Wednesday, Google, Twitter and Facebook are joining the national conversation about mental health in the United States and will host a training session for mental health organizations - both large and small - about how to use social media platforms to raise awareness and create new avenues for public discussion. The presentations will include best practices for setting up organizational accounts, building communities of followers, conducting outreach, integrating multimedia, and measuring success.

The training session will be hosted in Google’s Washington DC office from 1:30 - 3:30 pm. Attendees can register to join the event or watch the livestream on YouTube.
]]>
Posted by Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations

Nearly 45 million Americans are affected by illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Every day, thousands of nonprofit organizations across the country are providing critical life-saving assistance for people who increasingly turn to online communities for help.

On Wednesday, Google, Twitter and Facebook are joining the national conversation about mental health in the United States and will host a training session for mental health organizations - both large and small - about how to use social media platforms to raise awareness and create new avenues for public discussion. The presentations will include best practices for setting up organizational accounts, building communities of followers, conducting outreach, integrating multimedia, and measuring success.

The training session will be hosted in Google’s Washington DC office from 1:30 - 3:30 pm. Attendees can register to join the event or watch the livestream on YouTube.
]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/increasing-online-awareness-of-mental-health-services/feed/ 0 Ad Networks Agree on Industry Best Practices to Combat Piracy and Counterfeiting https://googledata.org/uncategorized/ad-networks-agree-on-industry-best-practices-to-combat-piracy-and-counterfeiting/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ad-networks-agree-on-industry-best-practices-to-combat-piracy-and-counterfeiting https://googledata.org/uncategorized/ad-networks-agree-on-industry-best-practices-to-combat-piracy-and-counterfeiting/#comments Mon, 15 Jul 2013 12:09:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=9f2b774b6d471c972b71f40ee2e98a93
Posted by Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations

With more than 30 trillion individual pages on the web, online piracy and counterfeit remains a challenge. Google takes that challenge seriously. Using cutting-edge technology like YouTube’s Content ID and innovative copyright removal tools for Web Search, we develop and deploy antipiracy solutions with the support of hundreds of Google employees.  In addition to developing legitimate, innovative, and convenient content offerings (such as Google Play and YouTube, through which our partners together generate hundreds of millions of dollars), we continue to develop solutions to help fight piracy and counterfeit online. We think one of the most effective ways to do this is to cut off the money supply to rogue sites that specialize in piracy or counterfeiting. To that end, in 2012 we disabled ad serving to 46,000 sites for violating our policies on copyright infringing content and shut down more than 82,000 accounts for attempting to advertise counterfeit goods. Nearly 99% of our account suspensions were discovered through our own detection efforts and risk models.  


There's always more that can be done by the industry to starve these infringing sites of advertising revenues. Today, working with the White House’s Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and other leading ad networks, we are pleased to participate in a set of voluntary Best Practices and Guidelines for Ad Networks to Address Piracy and Counterfeiting.  Under these best practices, Ad Networks will maintain and post policies prohibiting websites that are principally dedicated to selling counterfeit goods or engaging in copyright piracy from participating in the Ad Network’s advertising programs. By working across the industry, these best practices should help reduce the financial incentives for pirate sites by cutting off their revenue supply while maintaining a healthy Internet and promoting innovation.  




]]>
Posted by Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations

With more than 30 trillion individual pages on the web, online piracy and counterfeit remains a challenge. Google takes that challenge seriously. Using cutting-edge technology like YouTube’s Content ID and innovative copyright removal tools for Web Search, we develop and deploy antipiracy solutions with the support of hundreds of Google employees.  In addition to developing legitimate, innovative, and convenient content offerings (such as Google Play and YouTube, through which our partners together generate hundreds of millions of dollars), we continue to develop solutions to help fight piracy and counterfeit online. We think one of the most effective ways to do this is to cut off the money supply to rogue sites that specialize in piracy or counterfeiting. To that end, in 2012 we disabled ad serving to 46,000 sites for violating our policies on copyright infringing content and shut down more than 82,000 accounts for attempting to advertise counterfeit goods. Nearly 99% of our account suspensions were discovered through our own detection efforts and risk models.  


There's always more that can be done by the industry to starve these infringing sites of advertising revenues. Today, working with the White House’s Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and other leading ad networks, we are pleased to participate in a set of voluntary Best Practices and Guidelines for Ad Networks to Address Piracy and Counterfeiting.  Under these best practices, Ad Networks will maintain and post policies prohibiting websites that are principally dedicated to selling counterfeit goods or engaging in copyright piracy from participating in the Ad Network’s advertising programs. By working across the industry, these best practices should help reduce the financial incentives for pirate sites by cutting off their revenue supply while maintaining a healthy Internet and promoting innovation.  




]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/ad-networks-agree-on-industry-best-practices-to-combat-piracy-and-counterfeiting/feed/ 0 Securing your WiFi network https://googledata.org/uncategorized/securing-your-wifi-network-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=securing-your-wifi-network-2 https://googledata.org/uncategorized/securing-your-wifi-network-2/#comments Thu, 27 Jun 2013 15:03:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=8446ee3ab194138b1bcc3d61e996d8b3 Posted by John Munoz, Technical Program Manager 

This post is part of a regular series of privacy and security tips to help you and your family stay safe and secure online. Privacy and security are important topics—they matter to us, and they matter to you. Building on our Good to Know site with advice for safe and savvy Internet use, we hope this information helps you understand the choices and control that you have over your online information. -Ed. 

More than a quarter of Internet users worldwide use WiFi at home to connect to the web, but many aren't sure how to protect their home network, or why it is important to do so. The best way to think of your home WiFi network is to think of it like your front door: you want a strong lock on both to ensure your safety and security. 

When data is in transit over an unsecured WiFi network, the information you’re sending or receiving could be intercepted by someone nearby. Your neighbors might also be able to use the network for their own Internet activities, which might slow down your connection. Securing your network can help keep your information safe when you’re connecting wirelessly, and can also help protect the devices that are connected to your network. 

If you’re interested in improving your home WiFi security, the steps below can help make your home network safer. 

1. Check to see what kind of home WiFi security you already have. Do your friends need to enter a password to get on your network when they visit your house for the first time and ask to use your WiFi? If they don’t, your network isn’t as secure as it could be. Even if they do need to enter a password, there are a few different methods of securing your network, and some are better than others. Check what kind of security you have for your network at home by looking at your WiFi settings. Your network will likely either be unsecured, or secured with WEP, WPA or WPA2. WEP is the oldest wireless security protocol, and it’s pretty weak. WPA is better than WEP, but WPA2 is best. 

2. Change your network security settings to WPA2.Your wireless router is the machine that creates the WiFi network. If you don’t have your home network secured with WPA2, you’ll need to access your router’s settings page to make the change. You can check your router’s user manual to figure out how to access this page, or look for instructions online for your specific router. Any device with a WiFi trademark sold since 2006 is required to support WPA2. If you have a router that was made before then, we suggest upgrading to a new router that does offer WPA2. It’s safer and can be much faster.

3. Create a strong password for your WiFi network.To secure your network with WPA2, you’ll need to create a password. It’s important that you choose a unique password, with a long mix of numbers, letters and symbols so others can’t easily guess it. If you’re in a private space such as your home, it’s OK to write this password down so you can remember it, and keep it somewhere safe so you don’t lose it. You might also need it handy in case your friends come to visit and want to connect to the Internet via your network. Just like you wouldn’t give a stranger a key to your house, you should only give your WiFi password to people you trust. 

4. Secure your router too, so nobody can change your settings.Your router needs its own password, separate from the password you use to secure your network. Routers come without a password, or if they do have one, it’s a simple default password that many online criminals may already know. If you don’t reset your router password, criminals anywhere in the world have an easy way to launch an attack on your network, the data shared on it and the computers connected to your network. For many routers, you can reset the password from the router settings page. Keep this password to yourself, and make it different from the one you use to connect to the WiFi network (as described in step 3). If you make these passwords the same, then anyone who has the password to connect to your network will also be able to change your wireless router settings. 

 5. If you need help, look up the instructions.If you’ve misplaced your router’s manual, type the model number of your base station or router into a search engine—in many cases the info is available online. Otherwise, contact the company that manufactured the router or your Internet Service Provider for assistance. Please check out the video below to learn more about the simple but important steps you can take to improve the security of your Internet browsing.

 

For more advice on how to protect yourself and your family online, visit our Good to Know site, and stay tuned for more posts in our security series. ]]> Posted by John Munoz, Technical Program Manager 

This post is part of a regular series of privacy and security tips to help you and your family stay safe and secure online. Privacy and security are important topics—they matter to us, and they matter to you. Building on our Good to Know site with advice for safe and savvy Internet use, we hope this information helps you understand the choices and control that you have over your online information. -Ed. 

More than a quarter of Internet users worldwide use WiFi at home to connect to the web, but many aren't sure how to protect their home network, or why it is important to do so. The best way to think of your home WiFi network is to think of it like your front door: you want a strong lock on both to ensure your safety and security. 

When data is in transit over an unsecured WiFi network, the information you’re sending or receiving could be intercepted by someone nearby. Your neighbors might also be able to use the network for their own Internet activities, which might slow down your connection. Securing your network can help keep your information safe when you’re connecting wirelessly, and can also help protect the devices that are connected to your network. 

If you’re interested in improving your home WiFi security, the steps below can help make your home network safer. 

1. Check to see what kind of home WiFi security you already have. Do your friends need to enter a password to get on your network when they visit your house for the first time and ask to use your WiFi? If they don’t, your network isn’t as secure as it could be. Even if they do need to enter a password, there are a few different methods of securing your network, and some are better than others. Check what kind of security you have for your network at home by looking at your WiFi settings. Your network will likely either be unsecured, or secured with WEP, WPA or WPA2. WEP is the oldest wireless security protocol, and it’s pretty weak. WPA is better than WEP, but WPA2 is best. 

2. Change your network security settings to WPA2.Your wireless router is the machine that creates the WiFi network. If you don’t have your home network secured with WPA2, you’ll need to access your router’s settings page to make the change. You can check your router’s user manual to figure out how to access this page, or look for instructions online for your specific router. Any device with a WiFi trademark sold since 2006 is required to support WPA2. If you have a router that was made before then, we suggest upgrading to a new router that does offer WPA2. It’s safer and can be much faster.

3. Create a strong password for your WiFi network.To secure your network with WPA2, you’ll need to create a password. It’s important that you choose a unique password, with a long mix of numbers, letters and symbols so others can’t easily guess it. If you’re in a private space such as your home, it’s OK to write this password down so you can remember it, and keep it somewhere safe so you don’t lose it. You might also need it handy in case your friends come to visit and want to connect to the Internet via your network. Just like you wouldn’t give a stranger a key to your house, you should only give your WiFi password to people you trust. 

4. Secure your router too, so nobody can change your settings.Your router needs its own password, separate from the password you use to secure your network. Routers come without a password, or if they do have one, it’s a simple default password that many online criminals may already know. If you don’t reset your router password, criminals anywhere in the world have an easy way to launch an attack on your network, the data shared on it and the computers connected to your network. For many routers, you can reset the password from the router settings page. Keep this password to yourself, and make it different from the one you use to connect to the WiFi network (as described in step 3). If you make these passwords the same, then anyone who has the password to connect to your network will also be able to change your wireless router settings. 

 5. If you need help, look up the instructions.If you’ve misplaced your router’s manual, type the model number of your base station or router into a search engine—in many cases the info is available online. Otherwise, contact the company that manufactured the router or your Internet Service Provider for assistance. Please check out the video below to learn more about the simple but important steps you can take to improve the security of your Internet browsing.

 

For more advice on how to protect yourself and your family online, visit our Good to Know site, and stay tuned for more posts in our security series. ]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/securing-your-wifi-network-2/feed/ 0 Transparency Report: Making the web a safer place https://googledata.org/uncategorized/transparency-report-making-the-web-a-safer-place-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=transparency-report-making-the-web-a-safer-place-3 https://googledata.org/uncategorized/transparency-report-making-the-web-a-safer-place-3/#comments Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:05:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=5bdf34a17f863649c5266dbf3fe451d8
Posted by Lucas Ballard, Software Engineer

Two of the biggest threats online are malicious software (known as malware) that can take control of your computer, and phishing scams that try to trick you into sharing passwords or other private information.

So in 2006 we started a Safe Browsing program to find and flag suspect websites. This means that when you are surfing the web, we can now warn you when a site is unsafe. We're currently flagging up to 10,000 sites a day--and because we share this technology with other browsers there are about 1 billion users we can help keep safe.

But we're always looking for new ways to protect users' security. So today we're launching a new section on our Transparency Report that will shed more light on the sources of malware and phishing attacks.  You can now learn how many people see Safe Browsing warnings each week, where malicious sites are hosted around the world, how quickly websites become reinfected after their owners clean malware from their sites, and other tidbits we’ve surfaced.



Sharing this information also aligns well with our Transparency Report, which already gives information about government requests for user data, government requests to remove content, and current disruptions to our services.

To learn more, explore the new Safe Browsing information on this page. Webmasters and network administrators can find recommendations for dealing with malware infections, including resources like Google Webmaster Tools and Safe Browsing Alerts for Network Administrators.

]]>
Posted by Lucas Ballard, Software Engineer

Two of the biggest threats online are malicious software (known as malware) that can take control of your computer, and phishing scams that try to trick you into sharing passwords or other private information.

So in 2006 we started a Safe Browsing program to find and flag suspect websites. This means that when you are surfing the web, we can now warn you when a site is unsafe. We're currently flagging up to 10,000 sites a day--and because we share this technology with other browsers there are about 1 billion users we can help keep safe.

But we're always looking for new ways to protect users' security. So today we're launching a new section on our Transparency Report that will shed more light on the sources of malware and phishing attacks.  You can now learn how many people see Safe Browsing warnings each week, where malicious sites are hosted around the world, how quickly websites become reinfected after their owners clean malware from their sites, and other tidbits we’ve surfaced.



Sharing this information also aligns well with our Transparency Report, which already gives information about government requests for user data, government requests to remove content, and current disruptions to our services.

To learn more, explore the new Safe Browsing information on this page. Webmasters and network administrators can find recommendations for dealing with malware infections, including resources like Google Webmaster Tools and Safe Browsing Alerts for Network Administrators.

]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/transparency-report-making-the-web-a-safer-place-3/feed/ 0 America’s businesses are growing. The web is helping. https://googledata.org/uncategorized/americas-businesses-are-growing-the-web-is-helping-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=americas-businesses-are-growing-the-web-is-helping-2 https://googledata.org/uncategorized/americas-businesses-are-growing-the-web-is-helping-2/#comments Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:03:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=885877fec51db2ca0d350c83f2933d91 Posted by Allan Thygesen, Vice President, Global SMB Sales

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)


Michael Edlavitch was a middle school math teacher in Minnesota when he started a website with free math games to engage his students. With free online tools, a passion for math and an initial investment of just $10 to register his domain, www.hoodamath.com was born. Eventually Michael’s website became popular with more than just his students. So Michael gave Google AdSense a try as a way to earn money by placing ads next to his content. As word spread and traffic grew, the revenue generated from his site allowed Michael to devote himself full time to Hooda Math. Today, www.hoodamath.com has more than 350 educational games and has had more than 100 million unique visitors to the site. Beyond building a business for himself, Michael is helping students everywhere learn math while having fun.

Over in New York, Roberto Gil designs and builds children’s furniture—loft beds, bunk beds and entire custom rooms. Casa Kids’ furniture is custom designed for the family to grow along with the child. Roberto works out of his Brooklyn workshop and doesn’t sell to large furniture stores, which means the Casa Kids website is an essential tool for him to connect with potential customers.To grow even further, Roberto began using AdWords in 2010. In the first few months traffic to his site went up 30 percent. Today, two-thirds of his new customers come from Google. Meet Roberto and learn more about how he is making the web work for Casa Kids:


These are just two examples of how the web is working for American businesses. According to a McKinsey study, small businesses that make use of the web are growing twice as fast as those that are not on the web.  That’s because the web is where we go for information and inspiration—from math games to practice over the summer to someone to design and build that perfect bunk bed for your kids. Ninety-seven percent of American Internet users look online for local products and services. Whether we’re on our smartphones, tablets or computers, the web helps us find what we are looking for.

Here at Google, we see firsthand how the web is helping American businesses grow and thrive. Through our search and advertising programs, businesses like Casa Kids find customers, publishers like Hooda Math earn money from their content, and nonprofits solicit donations and volunteers. These tools are how we make money, and they’re also how millions of other U.S. businesses do, too.  

In 2012, Google's search and advertising tools helped provide $94 billion of economic activity for more than 1.9 million American businesses—advertisers, publishers and nonprofits. This represents a 17 percent increase from 2011. Check out the impact made in each state, along with stories of local businesses using the web to grow.

Whether it’s building skills or building furniture, Google helps to build businesses. We're thrilled to be part of such a vibrant industry and are committed to continuing to help make the web work for people and businesses everywhere.

]]> Posted by Allan Thygesen, Vice President, Global SMB Sales

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)


Michael Edlavitch was a middle school math teacher in Minnesota when he started a website with free math games to engage his students. With free online tools, a passion for math and an initial investment of just $10 to register his domain, www.hoodamath.com was born. Eventually Michael’s website became popular with more than just his students. So Michael gave Google AdSense a try as a way to earn money by placing ads next to his content. As word spread and traffic grew, the revenue generated from his site allowed Michael to devote himself full time to Hooda Math. Today, www.hoodamath.com has more than 350 educational games and has had more than 100 million unique visitors to the site. Beyond building a business for himself, Michael is helping students everywhere learn math while having fun.

Over in New York, Roberto Gil designs and builds children’s furniture—loft beds, bunk beds and entire custom rooms. Casa Kids’ furniture is custom designed for the family to grow along with the child. Roberto works out of his Brooklyn workshop and doesn’t sell to large furniture stores, which means the Casa Kids website is an essential tool for him to connect with potential customers.To grow even further, Roberto began using AdWords in 2010. In the first few months traffic to his site went up 30 percent. Today, two-thirds of his new customers come from Google. Meet Roberto and learn more about how he is making the web work for Casa Kids:


These are just two examples of how the web is working for American businesses. According to a McKinsey study, small businesses that make use of the web are growing twice as fast as those that are not on the web.  That’s because the web is where we go for information and inspiration—from math games to practice over the summer to someone to design and build that perfect bunk bed for your kids. Ninety-seven percent of American Internet users look online for local products and services. Whether we’re on our smartphones, tablets or computers, the web helps us find what we are looking for.

Here at Google, we see firsthand how the web is helping American businesses grow and thrive. Through our search and advertising programs, businesses like Casa Kids find customers, publishers like Hooda Math earn money from their content, and nonprofits solicit donations and volunteers. These tools are how we make money, and they’re also how millions of other U.S. businesses do, too.  

In 2012, Google's search and advertising tools helped provide $94 billion of economic activity for more than 1.9 million American businesses—advertisers, publishers and nonprofits. This represents a 17 percent increase from 2011. Check out the impact made in each state, along with stories of local businesses using the web to grow.

Whether it’s building skills or building furniture, Google helps to build businesses. We're thrilled to be part of such a vibrant industry and are committed to continuing to help make the web work for people and businesses everywhere.

]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/americas-businesses-are-growing-the-web-is-helping-2/feed/ 0 Combating rogue online pharmacies https://googledata.org/uncategorized/combating-rogue-online-pharmacies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=combating-rogue-online-pharmacies https://googledata.org/uncategorized/combating-rogue-online-pharmacies/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:13:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=70d9e8564136dd2e41c694972b58d0f3
Posted by Adam Barea, Legal Director

Editor’s note:  Over the years, we have run a series of blogposts detailing our efforts to remove bad ads from our systems, and describing our approach to handling controversial content on our services.  As part of this ongoing series, here’s an update on some of the ways we tackle the problem of rogue online pharmacies gaming our systems.

For the last several years, Google has worked closely with a number of organizations, government agencies, and businesses to combat rogue online pharmacies from all angles.  

Collectively, we are making it increasingly difficult for these operators to effectively promote their rogue pharmacies online. A variety of websites and web services are refusing ads from suspected rogue pharmacies. Domain name registrars are removing suspect rogue pharmacies from their networks.  Payment processors are blocking payments to these operators, and social networking sites are removing them from their systems too.

As a result, rogue pharmacies continually adapt their online marketing practices, meaning this is an ongoing battle.  We wanted to share some of the steps Google takes to combat them.

Keeping ads safe

Making sure ads appearing on Google and our partner sites are safe continues to be a top priority.  We have extremely stringent ads policies, and use sophisticated automated systems, along with some human review, to identify, block and remove ads suspected of linking to rogue pharmacies.  We disrupt their marketing efforts by making it difficult for rogue pharmacies to abuse our services and evade our filters.

  • Since 2010, we’ve only permitted U.S.-based online pharmacies accredited under the National Association Boards of Pharmacy “VIPPS” program to run pharma ads in our AdWords program.  We were the first online search provider to require this certification - there are less than 40 VIPPS certified pharmacies operating in the U.S.
  • We partner with LegitScript, an independent company with deep knowledge about online pharmacies, to conduct weekly “sweeps” of ads on Google to help ensure that we are keeping our ads safe.
  • According to LegitScript, the number of illegal drug and pharmacy ads on major search engines like Google and Bing has declined by 99.9% percent since 2010.
  • In the last two years alone, Google has blocked or removed from its systems more than 3 million ads by suspected rogue pharmacies.

Search results

Our stance on filtering our search results is well-publicized. We do not remove content from search results except in narrow circumstances (e.g., child sexual abuse imagery, certain links to copyrighted material; spam; malware).

Search results reflect the web and what’s online - the good and the bad.  Filtering a website from search results won’t remove it from the web, or block other websites that link to that website.  It's not Google's place to determine what content should be censored - that responsibility belongs with the courts and the lawmakers.

Google will abide by court decisions deciding which content on the web is and is not legal.   We have always removed from our search results any page found by a legitimate court to be unlawful, whether an online rogue pharmacy or otherwise.

Rogue pharmacies are clearly a matter of public concern. This is why we work closely with the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (“CSIP”), a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to stopping rogue online pharmacies and keeping consumers safe on the web.  If a user searches on Google for terms related to online pharmacies or buying pharmaceuticals, a prominent advertisement from CSIP will often appear on the search results page, urging caution and linking to the LegitScript pharmacy verification tool.


CSIP’s ad campaign on Google is funded by a Google Grant, which provides non-profits like CSIP with financial and technical assistance to promote their important missions online.  Campaigns like these help users to better understand the risks involved with rogue pharmacies and fake drugs, at the moment they’re searching for them, and provides users with a simple way to check if any pharmacy they find online is legitimate.

Updating autocomplete predictions

Autocomplete helps our users search faster.  While a user types, autocomplete predicts the user’s most likely search queries based on what the user has already typed. These predictions are an algorithmic reflection of the search terms that are popular with users and on the Internet.  We occasionally tweak autocomplete to prevent shocking or offensive entries from being displayed, but don’t otherwise decide which entries appear in autocomplete.  

Because the feature is algorithmic, some autocomplete entries may include phrases that potentially relate to rogue pharmacies.  We’re evaluating how best to address this issue, have already started running tests on the subject, and always welcome feedback.  

It is still important to understand that - whether or not a predicted query is shown in autocomplete - people can still search for objectionable content that might exist on the web.

Enforcing YouTube guidelines

YouTube has implemented robust community guidelines governing uploaded content and user activity on YouTube.  These guidelines prohibit spam, which includes the posting of large amounts of untargeted, unwanted, and repetitive content. YouTube's guidelines also prohibit the sale of illegal goods or promotion of dangerous activities. Our teams respond around the clock when such content is reported to us. To make the notification process as effective as possible, YouTube provides a flagging tool under every video on the site that lets users and law enforcement easily alert us whenever a video contains content that violates YouTube’s policies regarding pharmaceuticals or illegal drugs.



Earlier this month, YouTube was notified of a number of videos promoting pharmaceuticals that violated its guidelines, and immediately removed them.  YouTube will continue doing so when notified.

Working together with regulators and the industry

In 2010, following discussions with the White House, Google teamed-up with organizations across different industries — including GoDaddy, Microsoft, Visa, Yahoo! —  and took the important step of founding the industry group CSIP. In addition to its public awareness campaigns (such as the one mentioned above), CSIP recently highlighted some industry initiatives by its member companies against rogue pharmacies, and specifically called out the efforts of companies like Google here.

Over the last few years, Google has made thousands of referrals to law enforcement concerning suspected rogue online pharmacies, and will continue to do so.  

In October 2012, we participated in the successful Operation Pangea, in which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in partnership with international regulatory and law enforcement agencies, took action against more than 4,100 Internet pharmacies worldwide. We also regularly keep officials up to date on our efforts - in writing and in person.   For example, when the National Association of Attorneys General Intellectual Property Committee invited multiple search engines to participate in discussions with the Committee on November 28, 2012, Google was the only search engine to do so.

*****

The industry as a whole has made significant strides in the fight against rogue pharmacies.  Working together, companies in the private sector, non-profit organizations, and law enforcement have made it increasingly difficult for rogue pharmacies to effectively market their illegal products online, and operators of these sites are being forced to turn to much less effective marketing techniques from the outskirts of the Internet.  

This is great progress, and Google remains committed to working with others in this important fight to protect our users.

]]>
Posted by Adam Barea, Legal Director

Editor’s note:  Over the years, we have run a series of blogposts detailing our efforts to remove bad ads from our systems, and describing our approach to handling controversial content on our services.  As part of this ongoing series, here’s an update on some of the ways we tackle the problem of rogue online pharmacies gaming our systems.

For the last several years, Google has worked closely with a number of organizations, government agencies, and businesses to combat rogue online pharmacies from all angles.  

Collectively, we are making it increasingly difficult for these operators to effectively promote their rogue pharmacies online. A variety of websites and web services are refusing ads from suspected rogue pharmacies. Domain name registrars are removing suspect rogue pharmacies from their networks.  Payment processors are blocking payments to these operators, and social networking sites are removing them from their systems too.

As a result, rogue pharmacies continually adapt their online marketing practices, meaning this is an ongoing battle.  We wanted to share some of the steps Google takes to combat them.

Keeping ads safe

Making sure ads appearing on Google and our partner sites are safe continues to be a top priority.  We have extremely stringent ads policies, and use sophisticated automated systems, along with some human review, to identify, block and remove ads suspected of linking to rogue pharmacies.  We disrupt their marketing efforts by making it difficult for rogue pharmacies to abuse our services and evade our filters.

  • Since 2010, we’ve only permitted U.S.-based online pharmacies accredited under the National Association Boards of Pharmacy “VIPPS” program to run pharma ads in our AdWords program.  We were the first online search provider to require this certification - there are less than 40 VIPPS certified pharmacies operating in the U.S.
  • We partner with LegitScript, an independent company with deep knowledge about online pharmacies, to conduct weekly “sweeps” of ads on Google to help ensure that we are keeping our ads safe.
  • According to LegitScript, the number of illegal drug and pharmacy ads on major search engines like Google and Bing has declined by 99.9% percent since 2010.
  • In the last two years alone, Google has blocked or removed from its systems more than 3 million ads by suspected rogue pharmacies.

Search results

Our stance on filtering our search results is well-publicized. We do not remove content from search results except in narrow circumstances (e.g., child sexual abuse imagery, certain links to copyrighted material; spam; malware).

Search results reflect the web and what’s online - the good and the bad.  Filtering a website from search results won’t remove it from the web, or block other websites that link to that website.  It's not Google's place to determine what content should be censored - that responsibility belongs with the courts and the lawmakers.

Google will abide by court decisions deciding which content on the web is and is not legal.   We have always removed from our search results any page found by a legitimate court to be unlawful, whether an online rogue pharmacy or otherwise.

Rogue pharmacies are clearly a matter of public concern. This is why we work closely with the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (“CSIP”), a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to stopping rogue online pharmacies and keeping consumers safe on the web.  If a user searches on Google for terms related to online pharmacies or buying pharmaceuticals, a prominent advertisement from CSIP will often appear on the search results page, urging caution and linking to the LegitScript pharmacy verification tool.


CSIP’s ad campaign on Google is funded by a Google Grant, which provides non-profits like CSIP with financial and technical assistance to promote their important missions online.  Campaigns like these help users to better understand the risks involved with rogue pharmacies and fake drugs, at the moment they’re searching for them, and provides users with a simple way to check if any pharmacy they find online is legitimate.

Updating autocomplete predictions

Autocomplete helps our users search faster.  While a user types, autocomplete predicts the user’s most likely search queries based on what the user has already typed. These predictions are an algorithmic reflection of the search terms that are popular with users and on the Internet.  We occasionally tweak autocomplete to prevent shocking or offensive entries from being displayed, but don’t otherwise decide which entries appear in autocomplete.  

Because the feature is algorithmic, some autocomplete entries may include phrases that potentially relate to rogue pharmacies.  We’re evaluating how best to address this issue, have already started running tests on the subject, and always welcome feedback.  

It is still important to understand that - whether or not a predicted query is shown in autocomplete - people can still search for objectionable content that might exist on the web.

Enforcing YouTube guidelines

YouTube has implemented robust community guidelines governing uploaded content and user activity on YouTube.  These guidelines prohibit spam, which includes the posting of large amounts of untargeted, unwanted, and repetitive content. YouTube's guidelines also prohibit the sale of illegal goods or promotion of dangerous activities. Our teams respond around the clock when such content is reported to us. To make the notification process as effective as possible, YouTube provides a flagging tool under every video on the site that lets users and law enforcement easily alert us whenever a video contains content that violates YouTube’s policies regarding pharmaceuticals or illegal drugs.



Earlier this month, YouTube was notified of a number of videos promoting pharmaceuticals that violated its guidelines, and immediately removed them.  YouTube will continue doing so when notified.

Working together with regulators and the industry

In 2010, following discussions with the White House, Google teamed-up with organizations across different industries — including GoDaddy, Microsoft, Visa, Yahoo! —  and took the important step of founding the industry group CSIP. In addition to its public awareness campaigns (such as the one mentioned above), CSIP recently highlighted some industry initiatives by its member companies against rogue pharmacies, and specifically called out the efforts of companies like Google here.

Over the last few years, Google has made thousands of referrals to law enforcement concerning suspected rogue online pharmacies, and will continue to do so.  

In October 2012, we participated in the successful Operation Pangea, in which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in partnership with international regulatory and law enforcement agencies, took action against more than 4,100 Internet pharmacies worldwide. We also regularly keep officials up to date on our efforts - in writing and in person.   For example, when the National Association of Attorneys General Intellectual Property Committee invited multiple search engines to participate in discussions with the Committee on November 28, 2012, Google was the only search engine to do so.

*****

The industry as a whole has made significant strides in the fight against rogue pharmacies.  Working together, companies in the private sector, non-profit organizations, and law enforcement have made it increasingly difficult for rogue pharmacies to effectively market their illegal products online, and operators of these sites are being forced to turn to much less effective marketing techniques from the outskirts of the Internet.  

This is great progress, and Google remains committed to working with others in this important fight to protect our users.

]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/combating-rogue-online-pharmacies/feed/ 0 Iranian phishing on the rise as elections approach https://googledata.org/uncategorized/iranian-phishing-on-the-rise-as-elections-approach-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=iranian-phishing-on-the-rise-as-elections-approach-2 https://googledata.org/uncategorized/iranian-phishing-on-the-rise-as-elections-approach-2/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:09:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=ea3aaf3ad5699282e7b109eddde3b41e Posted by Eric Grosse, VP Security Engineering

Cross-posted from the Google Online Security Blog

For almost three weeks, we have detected and disrupted multiple email-based phishing campaigns aimed at compromising the accounts owned by tens of thousands of Iranian users. These campaigns, which originate from within Iran, represent a significant jump in the overall volume of phishing activity in the region. The timing and targeting of the campaigns suggest that the attacks are politically motivated in connection with the Iranian presidential election on Friday.


Our Chrome browser previously helped detect what appears to be the same group using SSL certificates to conduct attacks that targeted users within Iran. In this case, the phishing technique we detected is more routine: users receive an email containing a link to a web page that purports to provide a way to perform account maintenance. If the user clicks the link, they see a fake Google sign-in page that will steal their username and password.

Protecting our users’ accounts is one of our top priorities, so we notify targets of state-sponsored attacks and other suspicious activity, and we take other appropriate actions to limit the impact of these attacks on our users. Especially if you are in Iran, we encourage you to take extra steps to protect your account. Watching out for phishing, using a modern browser like Chrome and enabling 2-step verification can make you significantly more secure against these and many other types of attacks. Also, before typing your Google password, always verify that the URL in the address bar of your browser begins with https://accounts.google.com/. If the website's address does not match this text, please don’t enter your Google password.]]> Posted by Eric Grosse, VP Security Engineering

Cross-posted from the Google Online Security Blog

For almost three weeks, we have detected and disrupted multiple email-based phishing campaigns aimed at compromising the accounts owned by tens of thousands of Iranian users. These campaigns, which originate from within Iran, represent a significant jump in the overall volume of phishing activity in the region. The timing and targeting of the campaigns suggest that the attacks are politically motivated in connection with the Iranian presidential election on Friday.


Our Chrome browser previously helped detect what appears to be the same group using SSL certificates to conduct attacks that targeted users within Iran. In this case, the phishing technique we detected is more routine: users receive an email containing a link to a web page that purports to provide a way to perform account maintenance. If the user clicks the link, they see a fake Google sign-in page that will steal their username and password.

Protecting our users’ accounts is one of our top priorities, so we notify targets of state-sponsored attacks and other suspicious activity, and we take other appropriate actions to limit the impact of these attacks on our users. Especially if you are in Iran, we encourage you to take extra steps to protect your account. Watching out for phishing, using a modern browser like Chrome and enabling 2-step verification can make you significantly more secure against these and many other types of attacks. Also, before typing your Google password, always verify that the URL in the address bar of your browser begins with https://accounts.google.com/. If the website's address does not match this text, please don’t enter your Google password.]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/iranian-phishing-on-the-rise-as-elections-approach-2/feed/ 0 Asking the U.S. government to allow Google to publish more national security request data https://googledata.org/uncategorized/asking-the-u-s-government-to-allow-google-to-publish-more-national-security-request-data-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=asking-the-u-s-government-to-allow-google-to-publish-more-national-security-request-data-2 https://googledata.org/uncategorized/asking-the-u-s-government-to-allow-google-to-publish-more-national-security-request-data-2/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:39:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=46f1d3b3eba05fce2c8e31e597fe0686
This morning we sent the following letter to the offices of the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Read the full text below. -Ed. 

Dear Attorney General Holder and Director Mueller

Google has worked tremendously hard over the past fifteen years to earn our users’ trust. For example, we offer encryption across our services; we have hired some of the best security engineers in the world; and we have consistently pushed back on overly broad government requests for our users’ data.

We have always made clear that we comply with valid legal requests. And last week, the Director of National Intelligence acknowledged that service providers have received Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests.

Assertions in the press that our compliance with these requests gives the U.S. government unfettered access to our users’ data are simply untrue. However, government nondisclosure obligations regarding the number of FISA national security requests that Google receives, as well as the number of accounts covered by those requests, fuel that speculation.

We therefore ask you to help make it possible for Google to publish in our Transparency Report aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures—in terms of both the number we receive and their scope. Google’s numbers would clearly show that our compliance with these requests falls far short of the claims being made. Google has nothing to hide.

Google appreciates that you authorized the recent disclosure of general numbers for national security letters. There have been no adverse consequences arising from their publication, and in fact more companies are receiving your approval to do so as a result of Google’s initiative. Transparency here will likewise serve the public interest without harming national security.

We will be making this letter public and await your response.

David Drummond
Chief Legal Officer]]>
This morning we sent the following letter to the offices of the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Read the full text below. -Ed. 

Dear Attorney General Holder and Director Mueller

Google has worked tremendously hard over the past fifteen years to earn our users’ trust. For example, we offer encryption across our services; we have hired some of the best security engineers in the world; and we have consistently pushed back on overly broad government requests for our users’ data.

We have always made clear that we comply with valid legal requests. And last week, the Director of National Intelligence acknowledged that service providers have received Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests.

Assertions in the press that our compliance with these requests gives the U.S. government unfettered access to our users’ data are simply untrue. However, government nondisclosure obligations regarding the number of FISA national security requests that Google receives, as well as the number of accounts covered by those requests, fuel that speculation.

We therefore ask you to help make it possible for Google to publish in our Transparency Report aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures—in terms of both the number we receive and their scope. Google’s numbers would clearly show that our compliance with these requests falls far short of the claims being made. Google has nothing to hide.

Google appreciates that you authorized the recent disclosure of general numbers for national security letters. There have been no adverse consequences arising from their publication, and in fact more companies are receiving your approval to do so as a result of Google’s initiative. Transparency here will likewise serve the public interest without harming national security.

We will be making this letter public and await your response.

David Drummond
Chief Legal Officer ]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/asking-the-u-s-government-to-allow-google-to-publish-more-national-security-request-data-2/feed/ 0 Protecting Seniors from Identity Theft https://googledata.org/uncategorized/protecting-seniors-from-identity-theft/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=protecting-seniors-from-identity-theft https://googledata.org/uncategorized/protecting-seniors-from-identity-theft/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 11:51:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=67cbb2d2adeea4063f0279a8fe04c329
Posted by Jenny Backus, Public Policy Team

Every day in this country, someone’s mother, grandfather, or older neighbor is a victim of identity theft. Whether the identity thieves attack through a confusing telemarketing scam, a misleading piece of mail, or over the Internet, seniors and their families are increasingly at risk of long-term financial and emotional damage that can take years to undo.


In order to address this issue, the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of public and private partners like the National Consumer League’s Fraud.org are working together to protect seniors from identity theft. Google will also be recognizing Older Americans Month this May by offering tips for seniors to help them stay safe and secure online.


The FTC’s report of 2012 consumer complaint data recently showed that complaints about identity theft from older Americans are increasing at a faster rate than for any other age group. In fact, identity theft complaints from those over 70 increased by almost 70% since 2010, while complaints from 60 to 70 year olds increased by 53% in the same period.  

Google’s Good to Know site is designed to help educate consumers of all ages about online threats and tools they can use to protect themselves, including information on how to protect themselves from identity theft.

Here are five tips from our security experts:

  • Don’t reply if you see a suspicious email, instant message or webpage asking for your personal or financial information. Identity thieves can steal your information and then use it to withdraw money from your bank account.
  • Never enter your password if you’ve arrived at a site by following a link in an email or chat that you don’t trust.
  • If you see a message from someone you know that doesn’t seem like them, their account might have been compromised by a cyber criminal who is trying to get money or information from you. Think before responding!
  • Don’t send your password via email, and don’t share your password with others. Legitimate sites won’t ask you to send them your passwords via email, so don’t respond if you get requests for your passwords to online sites.
  • Report any suspicious emails and scams. Many email providers, including Gmail, provide an easy way for you to report fishy emails and scams, and it can help our teams stop similar mail from being sent to you and others.

Seniors around the country can also learn more by attending or viewing by webcast the FTC’s workshop today on protecting seniors from identity theft. With speakers from some of the most trusted consumer groups, local, state and government leaders, and lead experts on fraud prevention, the FTC workshop will focus on forms of ID theft that are particularly significant for seniors, from the risks that seniors face in nursing homes to the identity theft concerns that arise when they file their taxes or seek government assistance, which is increasingly happening online.

Stopping bad actors who target seniors and preventing the rise of identity theft is a shared mission for all of us. Google is committed to making the Internet safer, and protecting our users of all ages.]]>
Posted by Jenny Backus, Public Policy Team

Every day in this country, someone’s mother, grandfather, or older neighbor is a victim of identity theft. Whether the identity thieves attack through a confusing telemarketing scam, a misleading piece of mail, or over the Internet, seniors and their families are increasingly at risk of long-term financial and emotional damage that can take years to undo.


In order to address this issue, the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of public and private partners like the National Consumer League’s Fraud.org are working together to protect seniors from identity theft. Google will also be recognizing Older Americans Month this May by offering tips for seniors to help them stay safe and secure online.


The FTC’s report of 2012 consumer complaint data recently showed that complaints about identity theft from older Americans are increasing at a faster rate than for any other age group. In fact, identity theft complaints from those over 70 increased by almost 70% since 2010, while complaints from 60 to 70 year olds increased by 53% in the same period.  

Google’s Good to Know site is designed to help educate consumers of all ages about online threats and tools they can use to protect themselves, including information on how to protect themselves from identity theft.

Here are five tips from our security experts:

  • Don’t reply if you see a suspicious email, instant message or webpage asking for your personal or financial information. Identity thieves can steal your information and then use it to withdraw money from your bank account.
  • Never enter your password if you’ve arrived at a site by following a link in an email or chat that you don’t trust.
  • If you see a message from someone you know that doesn’t seem like them, their account might have been compromised by a cyber criminal who is trying to get money or information from you. Think before responding!
  • Don’t send your password via email, and don’t share your password with others. Legitimate sites won’t ask you to send them your passwords via email, so don’t respond if you get requests for your passwords to online sites.
  • Report any suspicious emails and scams. Many email providers, including Gmail, provide an easy way for you to report fishy emails and scams, and it can help our teams stop similar mail from being sent to you and others.

Seniors around the country can also learn more by attending or viewing by webcast the FTC’s workshop today on protecting seniors from identity theft. With speakers from some of the most trusted consumer groups, local, state and government leaders, and lead experts on fraud prevention, the FTC workshop will focus on forms of ID theft that are particularly significant for seniors, from the risks that seniors face in nursing homes to the identity theft concerns that arise when they file their taxes or seek government assistance, which is increasingly happening online.

Stopping bad actors who target seniors and preventing the rise of identity theft is a shared mission for all of us. Google is committed to making the Internet safer, and protecting our users of all ages.]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/protecting-seniors-from-identity-theft/feed/ 0 Congress, now live on YouTube https://googledata.org/uncategorized/congress-now-live-on-youtube/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=congress-now-live-on-youtube https://googledata.org/uncategorized/congress-now-live-on-youtube/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:39:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=65674c270b08097c6bc1d485c2d612d7
Posted by
Robert Kyncl, Vice President, Global Head of Content Partnerships for YouTube
& Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations


Video plays a powerful role in bringing us closer together, especially when it connects people in real time. By transcending borders, empowering citizens, and increasing transparency, it’s one of the many ways technology allows democracy to thrive. Starting this week, all members of the U.S. Congress will have the opportunity to access enhanced features on their YouTube channels, including the ability to live stream video.

Live video is already allowing elected officials and their constituents to reach one another in innovative ways. Thousands tuned in to YouTube to watch the president’s State of the Union address and the corresponding Republican response this February. Engagement is growing across many types of platforms — Google+ Hangouts, for example, have sparked face-to-face conversations on topics ranging from gun control to the national economy and have allowed people on the other side of the world to share their stories at Congressional hearings.

If you’re a member of Congress and would like to know more, check out these Dear Colleague letters issued by the House and Senate. Whether it’s to share a look into your daily work, broadcast speeches and meetings, or showcase events in your state or district, we can’t wait to see how you connect with your constituents.
]]>
Posted by
Robert Kyncl, Vice President, Global Head of Content Partnerships for YouTube
& Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations


Video plays a powerful role in bringing us closer together, especially when it connects people in real time. By transcending borders, empowering citizens, and increasing transparency, it’s one of the many ways technology allows democracy to thrive. Starting this week, all members of the U.S. Congress will have the opportunity to access enhanced features on their YouTube channels, including the ability to live stream video.

Live video is already allowing elected officials and their constituents to reach one another in innovative ways. Thousands tuned in to YouTube to watch the president’s State of the Union address and the corresponding Republican response this February. Engagement is growing across many types of platforms — Google+ Hangouts, for example, have sparked face-to-face conversations on topics ranging from gun control to the national economy and have allowed people on the other side of the world to share their stories at Congressional hearings.

If you’re a member of Congress and would like to know more, check out these Dear Colleague letters issued by the House and Senate. Whether it’s to share a look into your daily work, broadcast speeches and meetings, or showcase events in your state or district, we can’t wait to see how you connect with your constituents.
]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/congress-now-live-on-youtube/feed/ 0 The Big Tent comes to Washington https://googledata.org/uncategorized/the-big-tent-comes-to-washington/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-big-tent-comes-to-washington https://googledata.org/uncategorized/the-big-tent-comes-to-washington/#comments Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:30:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=0453d294a3e1420e166bd1e696355d91
Posted by Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations


When we started holding our Big Tent events in London two years ago, we wanted to stir up lively conversation about some of the hot topics relating to the Internet and society. After all, the political meaning of a “big tent” is to attract diverse viewpoints to come together in one place. Since then, we’ve held more than 20 Big Tents on three different continents to debate issues ranging from arts and culture online to the economic impact of the web.


Later today, the Big Tent is coming to Washington, D.C. for the first time. Along with our partner Bloomberg, we'll hear from some of the top names in media, government and the arts for discussions about one of the values we hold most dear: the right to free expression.


Can free speech survive in the digital age? At a time when too many governments deny their citizens the right to dissent, we’ll ask if the Internet is reaching its promise of empowering people around the world. We’ll have sessions on the limits to free speech online, national security in the Internet age, and creativity and freedom on the web.

Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt and senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond will be joined by a variety of speakers, including former U.S. attorney general Alberto Gonzales, deputy secretary of homeland security Jane Holl Lute, Bloomberg chief content officer Norman Pearlstine, former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, and Saudi Arabian comedian and YouTube star Omar Hussein.

Things kick off at 1:30pm EDT today—you can watch the entire event on Bloomberg’s live stream and tune in to the Big Tent Google+ page for updates as the event unfolds. Later on, we’ll also upload video clips to the Big Tent YouTube channel. We hope you’ll join us for exciting conversations about how to best keep the Internet free and open.

]]>
Posted by Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations


When we started holding our Big Tent events in London two years ago, we wanted to stir up lively conversation about some of the hot topics relating to the Internet and society. After all, the political meaning of a “big tent” is to attract diverse viewpoints to come together in one place. Since then, we’ve held more than 20 Big Tents on three different continents to debate issues ranging from arts and culture online to the economic impact of the web.


Later today, the Big Tent is coming to Washington, D.C. for the first time. Along with our partner Bloomberg, we'll hear from some of the top names in media, government and the arts for discussions about one of the values we hold most dear: the right to free expression.


Can free speech survive in the digital age? At a time when too many governments deny their citizens the right to dissent, we’ll ask if the Internet is reaching its promise of empowering people around the world. We’ll have sessions on the limits to free speech online, national security in the Internet age, and creativity and freedom on the web.

Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt and senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond will be joined by a variety of speakers, including former U.S. attorney general Alberto Gonzales, deputy secretary of homeland security Jane Holl Lute, Bloomberg chief content officer Norman Pearlstine, former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, and Saudi Arabian comedian and YouTube star Omar Hussein.

Things kick off at 1:30pm EDT today—you can watch the entire event on Bloomberg’s live stream and tune in to the Big Tent Google+ page for updates as the event unfolds. Later on, we’ll also upload video clips to the Big Tent YouTube channel. We hope you’ll join us for exciting conversations about how to best keep the Internet free and open.

]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/the-big-tent-comes-to-washington/feed/ 0 Transparency Report: More government removal requests than ever before https://googledata.org/uncategorized/transparency-report-more-government-removal-requests-than-ever-before-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=transparency-report-more-government-removal-requests-than-ever-before-2 https://googledata.org/uncategorized/transparency-report-more-government-removal-requests-than-ever-before-2/#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:08:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=a5220a373c6a0e6141c2535ab0c6830f Posted by Susan Infantino, Legal Director 

Three years ago when we launched the Transparency Report, we said we hoped it would shine some light on the scale and scope of government requests for censorship and data around the globe. Today, for the seventh time, we’re releasing new numbers showing requests from governments to remove content from our services. From July to December 2012, we received 2,285 government requests to remove 24,179 pieces of content—an increase from the 1,811 requests to remove 18,070 pieces of content that we received during the first half of 2012.


As we’ve gathered and released more data over time, it’s become increasingly clear that the scope of government attempts to censor content on Google services has grown. In more places than ever, we’ve been asked by governments to remove political content that people post on our services. In this particular time period, we received court orders in several countries to remove blog posts criticizing government officials or their associates. You can read more about these requests by looking at the annotations section of the Transparency Report. Of particular note were three occurrences that took place in the second half of 2012:
  • There was a sharp increase in requests from Brazil, where we received 697 requests to remove content from our platforms (of which 640 were court orders—meaning we received an average of 3.5 court orders per day during this time period), up from 191 during the first half of the year. The big reason for the spike was the municipal elections, which took place last fall. Nearly half of the total requests—316 to be exact—called for the removal of 756 pieces of content related to alleged violations of the Brazilian Electoral Code, which forbids defamation and commentary that offends candidates. We’re appealing many of these cases, on the basis that the content is protected by freedom of expression under the Brazilian Constitution.
  • Another place where we saw an increase was from Russia, where a new law took effect last fall. In the first half of 2012, we received six requests, the most we had ever received in any given six-month period from Russia. But in the second half of the year, we received 114 requests to remove content—107 of them citing this new law.
  • During this period, we received inquiries from 20 countries regarding YouTube videos containing clips of the movie “Innocence of Muslims.” While the videos were within our Community Guidelines, we restricted videos from view in several countries in accordance with local law after receiving formal legal complaints. We also temporarily restricted videos from view in Egypt and Libya due to the particularly difficult circumstances there.
We’ve also made a couple of improvements to the Transparency Report since our last update:
  • We’re now breaking down government requests about YouTube videos to clarify whether we removed videos in response to government requests for violating Community Guidelines, or whether we restricted videos from view due to local laws. You can see the details by scrolling to the bottom of each country-specific page.
  • We’ve also refreshed the look of the Traffic section, making it easier to see where and when disruptions have occurred to Google services. You can see a map where our services are currently disrupted; you can see a map of all known disruptions since 2009; and you can more easily navigate between time periods and regions.
The information we share on the Transparency Report is just a sliver of what happens on the Internet. But as we disclose more data and continue to expand it over time, we hope it helps draw attention to the laws around the world that govern the free flow of information online. ]]> Posted by Susan Infantino, Legal Director 

Three years ago when we launched the Transparency Report, we said we hoped it would shine some light on the scale and scope of government requests for censorship and data around the globe. Today, for the seventh time, we’re releasing new numbers showing requests from governments to remove content from our services. From July to December 2012, we received 2,285 government requests to remove 24,179 pieces of content—an increase from the 1,811 requests to remove 18,070 pieces of content that we received during the first half of 2012.


As we’ve gathered and released more data over time, it’s become increasingly clear that the scope of government attempts to censor content on Google services has grown. In more places than ever, we’ve been asked by governments to remove political content that people post on our services. In this particular time period, we received court orders in several countries to remove blog posts criticizing government officials or their associates. You can read more about these requests by looking at the annotations section of the Transparency Report. Of particular note were three occurrences that took place in the second half of 2012:
  • There was a sharp increase in requests from Brazil, where we received 697 requests to remove content from our platforms (of which 640 were court orders—meaning we received an average of 3.5 court orders per day during this time period), up from 191 during the first half of the year. The big reason for the spike was the municipal elections, which took place last fall. Nearly half of the total requests—316 to be exact—called for the removal of 756 pieces of content related to alleged violations of the Brazilian Electoral Code, which forbids defamation and commentary that offends candidates. We’re appealing many of these cases, on the basis that the content is protected by freedom of expression under the Brazilian Constitution.
  • Another place where we saw an increase was from Russia, where a new law took effect last fall. In the first half of 2012, we received six requests, the most we had ever received in any given six-month period from Russia. But in the second half of the year, we received 114 requests to remove content—107 of them citing this new law.
  • During this period, we received inquiries from 20 countries regarding YouTube videos containing clips of the movie “Innocence of Muslims.” While the videos were within our Community Guidelines, we restricted videos from view in several countries in accordance with local law after receiving formal legal complaints. We also temporarily restricted videos from view in Egypt and Libya due to the particularly difficult circumstances there.
We’ve also made a couple of improvements to the Transparency Report since our last update:
  • We’re now breaking down government requests about YouTube videos to clarify whether we removed videos in response to government requests for violating Community Guidelines, or whether we restricted videos from view due to local laws. You can see the details by scrolling to the bottom of each country-specific page.
  • We’ve also refreshed the look of the Traffic section, making it easier to see where and when disruptions have occurred to Google services. You can see a map where our services are currently disrupted; you can see a map of all known disruptions since 2009; and you can more easily navigate between time periods and regions.
The information we share on the Transparency Report is just a sliver of what happens on the Internet. But as we disclose more data and continue to expand it over time, we hope it helps draw attention to the laws around the world that govern the free flow of information online. ]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/transparency-report-more-government-removal-requests-than-ever-before-2/feed/ 0 More momentum toward digital due process https://googledata.org/uncategorized/more-momentum-toward-digital-due-process/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=more-momentum-toward-digital-due-process https://googledata.org/uncategorized/more-momentum-toward-digital-due-process/#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:01:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=cd4cad521952710bac6b6597e70c51c4
Posted by David Lieber, Privacy Policy Counsel


Three years ago, Google helped found a coalition of technology companies, privacy advocates and academics to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986. Today the Digital Due Process coalition includes more than 90 members, all devoted to bringing this federal law in line with how people use the web today.

ECPA no longer reflects the expectation of privacy that Google users and other users of the Internet reasonably have. For example, an email may receive more robust privacy protections under ECPA depending on how old it is or whether it has been opened. The privacy of electronic communications should not hinge on such arbitrary factors.  

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee took a significant step toward updating ECPA by passing legislation that would require the government to obtain a warrant in order to compel service providers to disclose the content of emails and other electronic content that they store on behalf of users. The bill replaces a confusing array of distinctions that ECPA makes with a bright line, warrant-for-content rule.

This is an important moment for all Internet users, and we’re deeply appreciative of Senators Leahy and Lee’s leadership in advancing this bill. We’ve also been working closely with the House Judiciary Committee on this issue and we look forward to continuing to work with Congress to update ECPA.]]>
Posted by David Lieber, Privacy Policy Counsel


Three years ago, Google helped found a coalition of technology companies, privacy advocates and academics to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986. Today the Digital Due Process coalition includes more than 90 members, all devoted to bringing this federal law in line with how people use the web today.

ECPA no longer reflects the expectation of privacy that Google users and other users of the Internet reasonably have. For example, an email may receive more robust privacy protections under ECPA depending on how old it is or whether it has been opened. The privacy of electronic communications should not hinge on such arbitrary factors.  

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee took a significant step toward updating ECPA by passing legislation that would require the government to obtain a warrant in order to compel service providers to disclose the content of emails and other electronic content that they store on behalf of users. The bill replaces a confusing array of distinctions that ECPA makes with a bright line, warrant-for-content rule.

This is an important moment for all Internet users, and we’re deeply appreciative of Senators Leahy and Lee’s leadership in advancing this bill. We’ve also been working closely with the House Judiciary Committee on this issue and we look forward to continuing to work with Congress to update ECPA.]]> https://googledata.org/uncategorized/more-momentum-toward-digital-due-process/feed/ 0 YouTube wins case against Viacom (again) https://googledata.org/youtube/youtube-wins-case-against-viacom-again/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=youtube-wins-case-against-viacom-again https://googledata.org/youtube/youtube-wins-case-against-viacom-again/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=a19d152f397fd03c557ab4d0ad5df1ec  
Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog 

Today is an important day for the Internet. For the second time, a federal court correctly rejected Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube. This is a win not just for YouTube, but for the billions of people worldwide who depend on the web to freely exchange ideas and information.

In enacting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Congress effectively balanced the public interest in free expression with the rights of copyright holders. The court today reaffirmed an established judicial consensus that the DMCA protects web platforms like YouTube that work with rightsholders and take appropriate steps to remove user-generated content that rightsholders notify them is infringing.

The growing YouTube community includes not only a billion individual users, but tens of thousands of partners who earn revenue from the platform -- from independent musicians and creators to some of the world’s biggest record labels, movie studios, and news organizations. Today’s decision recognizes YouTube as a thriving and vibrant forum for all these users, creators and consumers alike. Today is an important day for the Internet.]]>  
Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog 

Today is an important day for the Internet. For the second time, a federal court correctly rejected Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube. This is a win not just for YouTube, but for the billions of people worldwide who depend on the web to freely exchange ideas and information.

In enacting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Congress effectively balanced the public interest in free expression with the rights of copyright holders. The court today reaffirmed an established judicial consensus that the DMCA protects web platforms like YouTube that work with rightsholders and take appropriate steps to remove user-generated content that rightsholders notify them is infringing.

The growing YouTube community includes not only a billion individual users, but tens of thousands of partners who earn revenue from the platform -- from independent musicians and creators to some of the world’s biggest record labels, movie studios, and news organizations. Today’s decision recognizes YouTube as a thriving and vibrant forum for all these users, creators and consumers alike. Today is an important day for the Internet.]]> https://googledata.org/youtube/youtube-wins-case-against-viacom-again/feed/ 0 Improving software patent quality to support innovation https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/improving-software-patent-quality-to-support-innovation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=improving-software-patent-quality-to-support-innovation https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/improving-software-patent-quality-to-support-innovation/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:31:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=ea9a16a8179fcf00b9072553eb68d341
Posted by Suzanne Michel, Senior Patent Counsel


We filed comments yesterday with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) on software patent quality, where we argue that better application of established legal principles can help reduce the number of vague, overbroad software patents issued. We think this will protect real innovation while helping to solve some growing problems in the patent system.

Many software patents are so broad as to claim every way of doing something on a computer. And the boundaries of these patents are often unclear. The Patent Office would never permit a patent that covered “any combination of molecules to treat a headache with a pill,” but it regularly does this by allowing software patent claims covering only a goal—not an inventive solution.

By more consistently applying legal rules that require specificity around functional software claims, the PTO can ensure that software patents reward and protect the creative work of building great software products—not just coming up with vague or abstract ideas.

We filed our comments in response to the PTO’s new partnership with the software community and its recent call for public comment on improving patent quality. We commend the PTO’s efforts in this area and look forward to working constructively with the agency in the future.

In our comments, we also suggest that the PTO consider how improved technical training for patent examiners, expanded prior art databases, and standardized terminology used across all software patent applications can help improve quality.

Improving software patent quality is critically important to innovation, which is under attack by patent assertion entities (also known as patent trolls). Trolls don’t make anything; they simply use patents to extract money—almost $30 billion a year—from productive companies through litigation. Trolls often target startups and small businesses that lack the resources or expertise to effectively deal with such lawsuits.

The trolls’ weapons of choice are low-quality software patents: today, most patent litigation is brought by trolls, and about 82% of those suits involve software. There is no single fix to the troll problem, but improving software patent quality will help stem the tide while also supporting real innovation.




]]>
Posted by Suzanne Michel, Senior Patent Counsel


We filed comments yesterday with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) on software patent quality, where we argue that better application of established legal principles can help reduce the number of vague, overbroad software patents issued. We think this will protect real innovation while helping to solve some growing problems in the patent system.

Many software patents are so broad as to claim every way of doing something on a computer. And the boundaries of these patents are often unclear. The Patent Office would never permit a patent that covered “any combination of molecules to treat a headache with a pill,” but it regularly does this by allowing software patent claims covering only a goal—not an inventive solution.

By more consistently applying legal rules that require specificity around functional software claims, the PTO can ensure that software patents reward and protect the creative work of building great software products—not just coming up with vague or abstract ideas.

We filed our comments in response to the PTO’s new partnership with the software community and its recent call for public comment on improving patent quality. We commend the PTO’s efforts in this area and look forward to working constructively with the agency in the future.

In our comments, we also suggest that the PTO consider how improved technical training for patent examiners, expanded prior art databases, and standardized terminology used across all software patent applications can help improve quality.

Improving software patent quality is critically important to innovation, which is under attack by patent assertion entities (also known as patent trolls). Trolls don’t make anything; they simply use patents to extract money—almost $30 billion a year—from productive companies through litigation. Trolls often target startups and small businesses that lack the resources or expertise to effectively deal with such lawsuits.

The trolls’ weapons of choice are low-quality software patents: today, most patent litigation is brought by trolls, and about 82% of those suits involve software. There is no single fix to the troll problem, but improving software patent quality will help stem the tide while also supporting real innovation.




]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/improving-software-patent-quality-to-support-innovation/feed/ 0 Beyond the Password: Protecting Your Online Identity https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/beyond-the-password-protecting-your-online-identity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=beyond-the-password-protecting-your-online-identity https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/beyond-the-password-protecting-your-online-identity/#comments Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:47:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=c03f496cf47874f81a7a79ea9023f04a Posted by David Lieber, Public Policy Team 

Just like burglars and thieves, cyber criminals have many different ways to steal personal information and money. Consumers and technical experts alike are awakening to the reality that passwords - even those that are developed in ways that reduce the likelihood of a breach - are not the cure-all for online security.

Last year, Wired senior writer Mat Honan drew attention worldwide for his first-person account of having his online identity hijacked -- a story that spurred a conversation about passwords and online privacy and security.  On Wednesday, April 17th, Google DC is hosting a talk with FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen on data security, followed by a fireside chat with Mat Honan and security experts to discuss security challenges and the solutions that companies are working on to protect consumers against existing and emerging threats. 

Beyond the Password: Protecting Your Online Identity
Wednesday, April 17th
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

If you are in the DC area, please join us for an engaging discussion about protecting your online identity. RSVP by clicking here.
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/beyond-the-password-protecting-your-online-identity/feed/ 0 Plan your digital afterlife with Inactive Account Manager https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/plan-your-digital-afterlife-with-inactive-account-manager/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=plan-your-digital-afterlife-with-inactive-account-manager https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/plan-your-digital-afterlife-with-inactive-account-manager/#comments Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:05:00 +0000 https://googledata.org/?guid=76df47c081c6409a3950dba32d492869
Not many of us like thinking about death — especially our own. But making plans for what happens after you’re gone is really important for the people you leave behind. So today, we’re launching a new feature that makes it easy to tell Google what you want done with your digital assets when you die or can no longer use your account.

The feature is called Inactive Account Manager — not a great name, we know — and you’ll find it on your Google Account settings page. You can tell us what to do with your Gmail messages and data from several other Google services if your account becomes inactive for any reason.

For example, you can choose to have your data deleted — after three, six, nine or 12 months of inactivity. Or you can select trusted contacts to receive data from some or all of the following services: +1s; Blogger; Contacts and Circles; Drive; Gmail; Google+ Profiles, Pages and Streams; Picasa Web Albums; Google Voice and YouTube. Before our systems take any action, we’ll first warn you by sending a text message to your cellphone and email to the secondary address you’ve provided.

We hope that this new feature will enable you to plan your digital afterlife — in a way that protects your privacy and security — and make life easier for your loved ones after you’re gone.

 
]]>
Not many of us like thinking about death — especially our own. But making plans for what happens after you’re gone is really important for the people you leave behind. So today, we’re launching a new feature that makes it easy to tell Google what you want done with your digital assets when you die or can no longer use your account.

The feature is called Inactive Account Manager — not a great name, we know — and you’ll find it on your Google Account settings page. You can tell us what to do with your Gmail messages and data from several other Google services if your account becomes inactive for any reason.

For example, you can choose to have your data deleted — after three, six, nine or 12 months of inactivity. Or you can select trusted contacts to receive data from some or all of the following services: +1s; Blogger; Contacts and Circles; Drive; Gmail; Google+ Profiles, Pages and Streams; Picasa Web Albums; Google Voice and YouTube. Before our systems take any action, we’ll first warn you by sending a text message to your cellphone and email to the secondary address you’ve provided.

We hope that this new feature will enable you to plan your digital afterlife — in a way that protects your privacy and security — and make life easier for your loved ones after you’re gone.

 
]]> https://googledata.org/google-public-policy/plan-your-digital-afterlife-with-inactive-account-manager/feed/ 0