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Google Transparency Report for second half of 2012 shows European government attempts to access private data at an all-time high

23rd January 2013

Google's latest Transparency Report, released at 3pm GMT this afternoon, shows that requests by European governments for the browsing history, email communications, documents and IP addresses of Google's users have skyrocketed since the Transparency Report was launched three years ago. Countries in the European Union made 7,254 requests about 9,240 users or accounts between July and December 2012, averaging over 1,200 requests a month. This represents over a third of all requests made by…

Content type: News & Analysis

An open letter to the CEO of SWIFT on other covert programmes for access to financial data

11th July 2006

Dear Mr Schrank, I am writing with regard to the current controversy over the private arrangement between SWIFT and the U.S. Government that facilitates the extradition of confidential financial transaction data from SWIFT to U.S. authorities. You will be aware that Privacy International contends that this arrangement breaches privacy and data protection law, and we have lodged complaints with regulatory authorities in 38 countries. In my many discussions with SWIFT officials over the past…