Google has had a 150 percent increase in...

Google has had a 150 percent increase in government requests for user information since the company began publishing user data in 2009, excluding requests for information on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the National Security Letters, said a company blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/1q8D5fi). The increase “comes against a backdrop of ongoing revelations about government surveillance programs,” it said. “Despite these revelations, we have seen some countries expand their surveillance authorities in an attempt to reach service providers outside their borders,” said Google. The USA Freedom Act (S-2685) would “prevent the bulk collection of Internet metadata under various legal authorities, allow us to be more transparent about the volume, scope and type of national security demands that we receive, and would create stronger oversight and accountability mechanisms,” it said.