For the first time, Google has published information about requests by governments to block or delete online content. Germany issues the second-highest number of removal requests, the company claims.
Germany is the world's No. 2 in the Google rankings, way ahead of its European neighbors. Germany made more removal requests between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2009 than the rest of the continent put together. Apart from Germany, the only other European countries that made a significant number of requests in the same period were Italy, Spain and Britain.
According to Google, unspecified German authorities required the US-based search engine giant to erase or block online content 188 times between July and December. Only Brazil demanded more than that, issuing 291 requests, according to Google's statistics.
Why, however, is China, a country that is notorious for censoring the Internet, missing from these lists? The company could not release details about China's requests because that information is classified as a state secret, Google said.
Far-Reaching Laws
Why are there so many German removal requests involving Google searches? Oberbeck explained the requests are often related to defamation, but frequently requests are made to block the sites of neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers featuring content that is illegal in Germany. Germany has much more far-reaching prohibitions regarding these issues than other European countries. Not only Google, but all Internet providers follow these rules in Germany, Oberbeck said.
Google also complies with the lists compiled by Germany's Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (BPjM), whose requests to Google were included in the statistics. The BPjM, which is tasked with protecting children and adolescents in Germany from any media which might contain harmful or dangerous contents, compiles lists of publications and media products that include indecent, extremely violent, crime-inducing, anti-Semitic or otherwise racist content. In general, however, Germany's Internet providers take action by themselves to block such content.
Most video content removal requests coming from Germany were not related to copyright violations, as one might think, said Oberbeck, but had more to do with slander, illegal content and violations of terms and conditions, which had been brought to Google's attention. Copyright issues were normally settled directly with the copyright owners, Oberbeck said.
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