Google fielding more legal demands for user data

(AP) Google says it is fielding more legal demands from governments around the world seeking to learn more about the people using its Internet search engine, email and other services.

The latest snapshot of law enforcement agencies' efforts to extract personal information from Google emerged in a Wednesday report from the company.

Governments presented Google with 21,389 requests for information on 33,634 of its users during the last six months of 2012. The number of requests was up 17 percent from a year earlier.

More than 8,400 of the requests came from the U.S. government, more than anywhere else. Subpoenas accounted for 68 percent of the U.S. requests.

Google Inc. has been disclosing the total number of subpoenas, search warrants and other legal requests that it receives since 2010.

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Google's report: http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests