In the latest public move to position itself as a champion of Internet freedom amid the heavy-handed censorship policies of repressive governments, Google has shed some light into the requests it receives from state officials to remove content or turn over user data.
The company today launched its government requests tool, an interactive map that overlays the number of official requests Google received from each country’s government.
In the six months from July 1, 2009 to the end of December, the United States prevailed on the search giant with 3,580 data requests, topped only by the government of Brazil, with 3,663 requests.
Google explains that like many technology and communications companies, many of those requests come from law enforcement agencies looking for help with an investigation.