Think before you do, you are being Googled!

Google, the search giant introduced its first transparency report in 2009 and since then the number of inquiries across the globe has risen by around 37 percent. Governments all around the world are increasingly using Google as a key surveillance tool.

According to Google :

Government surveillance is on the rise... Government demands for user data have increased steadily since we first launched the Transparency Report. In the first half of 2012, there were 20,938 inquiries from government entities around the world. Those requests were for information about 34,614 accounts.

Google surveillance is definitely a global issue, but even here the US government is in the forefront. Brazil, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom each generated more than 1,000 government-related requests for user data. India was more inquisitive, with 2,319 requests. The US issued almost as many requests as those countries put together: 7,969.

With the introduction of transparency, the charge is also on when it came to requesting the removal of content from Google, with a total of 273 removal requests, including a number of being court orders.

Before completely despairing of user privacy, it's worth putting these figures in context. Google claims to have more than 400 million Gmail users alone. If the total number of Google accounts is, say, half a billion, then your chances of being subject to a request for user data is still only 25,000 to one.

Of course, most of us lead lives of much less interest to government authorities. For enterprises, the concern should probably be less about spying, and more about negligence. If Google, Microsoft, or Amazon complies with an agency's request to hand over enterprise data, what becomes of it? Is it securely protected in the hands of law enforcement? Is it securely disposed of once the investigation is over? If it's obtained without a warrant, will you even know that your data is being examined?

These are just further questions for individuals and organizations to consider before committing sensitive and confidential information to what is, in effect, the cloud. The government across the globe might be having an eye on all you commit.