The Top 10 Countries Requesting Your Internet User Data from Tech Firms

In amongst all the concern surrounding PRISM, the is/is not defunct Communications Data Bill and growing concerns over how some commercial internet giants might be abusing their positions and our personal data. Yes in amongst all that we have this somewhat scary chart courtesy of Reuters and the United Kingdom is in at no.2.

The data itself covers last year and doesn’t include any requests made through the USA’s controversial PRISM system, which remains somewhat hidden from the public gaze. Most of the other requests were fulfilled and thus user generated data/content was disclosed either in part or in full.

The data (*) also excludes national security requests, such as those made via the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Meanwhile Skype (**) didn’t disclose data in 2012 but they did provide “guidance” to law enforcement authorities on 501 accounts. It should also be noted that Twitter (***) has not disclosed the exact number of requests from Brazil and Australia.

It’s worth remembering that multiple requests could potentially pertain to a single individual. On top of that many countries, such as Iran and China, prefer to do this sort of stuff in a very hush hush way (i.e. you can’t compare this with all other countries / companies around the world as some don’t even report such requests).