Google on Thursday afternoon unveiled a new copyright section of its “Transparency Report,” a two-year-old website that documents the requests Google receives from governments to remove content deemed unlawful.
The new copyright section specifically reveals the number of requests over the last month Google has recieved by copyright owners to remove from Google Search links to content that the owners say is infringing or pirated.
Last month, Google said it received 1.2 million such requests. The search company did not reveal how many it complied with, but previously it said that it complies with 97 percent of its takedown requests.
However, Google also said it was trying to strike a balance between policing content and protecting its users. As such, Google copyright attorney Fred von Lohmann said in a blog post that Google has “long shared copies of copyright removal requests with Chilling Effects,” a website dedicated to monitoring freedom of expression (and lack thereof) on the Web, which is run by a collection of universities and advocacy groups.
“We believe that the time-tested “notice-and-takedown” process for copyright strikes the right balance between the needs of copyright owners, the interests of users, and our efforts to provide a useful Google Search experience,” Von Lohmann wrote in the post.
(H/T: GigaOM)
