Google Reports Steady Increase in Gov't Requests for User Data

Most requests coming from United States

Google on Wednesday reported a "steady increase" in government requests to hand over data from Internet users in the second half of 2012.

The Web giant's semiannual "transparency report" showed the most requests came from the the United States, with 8,438 requests for information about 14,868 users.

India was second with 2,431 requests for data about 4,106 users, followed by France, where Google received 1,693 requests for information about 2,063 users. Germany, Britain and Brazil rounded out the top six, Google said.