Google Shares Information About Copyright Removal Requests

Two years ago Google launched the Transparency Report a site dedicated to showing the number of take-down requests, removal of information from their services and the number of government inquiries received for information about users. Today the search giant has added another section to the site dedicated to sharing the information for requests for removal of content related to copyrights by copyright holders.

Google says it specifically wants to provide transparency for copyright removals in search by disclosing the number of requests they get from copyright owners (and the organizations that represent them) to remove Google Search results because they allegedly link to infringing content. Google will begin providing information about who sends copyright removal notices, how often, on behalf of which copyright owners and for which websites. For the launch the site will contain data dating from July 2011, and moving forward with daily updates.

The site gives a breakdown of details based on who sends copyright removal notices, how often they send in requests, on behalf of which copyright owners and for which websites. A chart shows the overall number of requests sent in per week, which Google says tops more than 250,000 per week. (For more about the data in the report, see the FAQ.)

I suggest checking it out, the breakdown on sites targeted and who is reporting infringement is pretty interesting!