With the growing internet usage over the years, the private data of more and more people are being stored on several internet platforms.
Most of these platforms are search engines or social media websites such as Google and Facebook.
Having one’s personal information stored on the internet my sound like a good idea as it might reflect the digitalisation and development level of a country.
However, one major issue regarding this storage of personal information through internet searches, online purchases, and social media activities is the potential accessibility of such information by any third party.
Tech companies, including Apple and Whatsapp, have developed new encryption technologies which ensures only the receiver and the sender on a communication platform can access the communication data.
Google recently published its biannual report on transparency which discloses the number of times a government requests for a user’s private data. In the first half of 2017, the search engine company received a staggering 48,941 requests for data involving the accounts of 83,345 people. This rise in usage has broken the record for the highest numbers of Google user data requests received in a six-month period.
Out of all the requests, Google complied with around 65 per cent of them. Moreover, Google approved the requests of more than 54,000 accounts.
