In the spirit of being open, search engine outfit Google has stated under what conditions it will hand over data to governments or delete information on its websites.
David Drummond, Google's senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer insists that the outfit is sticking to article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which says that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression".

But he said that Google, like other technology and telecommunications companies, regularly receives demands from government agencies to remove content from its services.

Drummond said that many of these requests are entirely legitimate, such as requests for the removal of child pornography. Google also regularly receives requests from law enforcement agencies to hand over private user data.

He said that the vast majority of these requests are valid and the information needed is for legitimate criminal investigations.

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