Wednesday 30 May 2012

Google transparency and Chilling Effects

Some chilling effects
are not so unwelcome ...
A recent Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) news release, "Google Releases New Copyright Transparency Report", picked up on BeSpacific, reports that
 "Google expanded its transparency reports program ... by releasing a detailed report of content removal requests from copyright holders. The new copyright report joins its semi-annual government takedown transparency report, and covers more than 95% of the copyright takedown requests it has received for Search results since July 2011.1  Though Google has posted the content of takedown requests to [the EFF-backed] Chilling Effects where possible before, this report presents the data collectively (and graphically) for the first time." 
It occurs to this blogger that, while the Google transparency program reports on take-down requests globally, the structure and content of Chilling Effects is US-directed. He wonders whether this useful and informative online service might be adapted for deployment in other jurisdictions, particularly in those parts of the world where the absence of an actual and enforceable constitutional right to communicate information can make the effect of a take-down request even more chilling.


Thank you, Chris Torrero, for supplying the original link.

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