Transparency | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 27 Feb 2018 14:51:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Transparency | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Google increases transparency after receiving 2.4m right to be forgotten requests https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/google-increases-transparency-after-receiving-2-4m-right-to-be-forgotten-requests/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/google-increases-transparency-after-receiving-2-4m-right-to-be-forgotten-requests/#respond Tue, 27 Feb 2018 14:51:54 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=365299 It has been a few years since the European Union first introduced ‘the right to be forgotten', giving EU citizens the opportunity to have links pertaining to them removed from Google search results. Google has been transparent about its process in the face of this new rule, and this week we learned that so far, …

The post Google increases transparency after receiving 2.4m right to be forgotten requests first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
It has been a few years since the European Union first introduced ‘the right to be forgotten', giving EU citizens the opportunity to have links pertaining to them removed from Google search results. Google has been transparent about its process in the face of this new rule, and this week we learned that so far, Google has received over 2.4 million requests to remove URLs from search results.

The right to be forgotten came into place in May 2014. Google has revealed that since then, it has received 2.4 million URL removal requests, a move that was made in an effort to expand transparency reports further. Soon, Google will also begin showing the breakdowns of private individuals and non-private individuals who submit these requests. With that information, we'll know how many public figures, or government officials are submitting these requests versus regular citizens.

Minors make up 40 percent of requests, meanwhile corporate entities and government officials make up 21 percent each. Non-government public figures make up 14 percent of requests. The remaining 4 percent is attributed to ‘other', which is a fairly unexplained category.

Google will also be listing how many requests it has honored, while also offering a breakdown for general reasons behind these requests. Currently, ‘professional information' tops the list, with 24 percent of removal requests being for professional purposes. Crime accounts for 8 percent of removal requests and ‘self-authored' posts make up 10 percent of requests, indicating that some people would rather have their past statements or work removed from search results.

The bulk of URL removal requests are social media or directory related, meanwhile 21 percent of URL removal requests were directed at news or government websites.

KitGuru Says: The right to be forgotten has been around for almost four years now and in that time, Google has processed a lot of requests. This transparency breakdown is particularly interesting, as it shows that this law is being used by regular people, and not just public entities or individuals trying to cover things up.

The post Google increases transparency after receiving 2.4m right to be forgotten requests first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/google-increases-transparency-after-receiving-2-4m-right-to-be-forgotten-requests/feed/ 0
Riot wants to better communicate with League players https://www.kitguru.net/professional/development/jon-martindale/riot-wants-to-better-communicate-with-league-players/ https://www.kitguru.net/professional/development/jon-martindale/riot-wants-to-better-communicate-with-league-players/#respond Thu, 06 Aug 2015 07:38:02 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=262551 As much as the internet can be a place where negativity goes to fester, game makers all over the world know that keeping in touch with your fan base through it is an important way to help maintain a game's popularity. And it's that line of communication between the players and Riot, which the League of …

The post Riot wants to better communicate with League players first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
As much as the internet can be a place where negativity goes to fester, game makers all over the world know that keeping in touch with your fan base through it is an important way to help maintain a game's popularity. And it's that line of communication between the players and Riot, which the League of Legends developer is looking to improve. To that end, it's launched a new regular blog, called “Riot Pls,” to let everyone know what it's doing.

By regular, Riot means quarterly, so it isn't coming every week. It's not designed as a breakdown of new content that's coming in the future. It will instead open up the offices at Riot to show what's having effort put into, so that if it ever seems like nothing much is happening, it's clear that that's not the case.

“We’re deep, deep in the weeds with all of our developers (engineers, designers, artists, etc) cleaning up the ‘tech debt',” said Riot in this first post. It's referencing the fact that the game was originally designed to facilitate 20,000 or so people and today it manages over 67 million regular players. That's proved and is proving to be quite a challenge for the developer, but it's something that it's working on.

riotpls

With that in mind, one of the big things it's currently developing is a new client. Although Riot's been working on it for over a year already, it doesn't expect it to be ready until the launch of the 2016 season.

“After this, once it's ready to launch, you can expect more reliability, more responsiveness, and less buggy experiences. Ultimately, we want you to fight the player, not the game, so the updated client is oriented around getting you and your friends into League with minimal friction,” Riot said.

Other efforts from Riot's various teams at the moment include new seasonal changes at the start of seasons, as well as new events, better story telling and overall a higher quality bar for updates.

“We’re still trying to push the envelope with each new champion we release and not only are we improving with each skin we put out but we’re exploring other ways for you to customize your League experience in Season 2016,” it said.

The bottom line though with this update, is that Riot doesn't want anything to be a surprise for players any more. If they read the blogs, they'll always know what Rios is working on.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Do you think this is a good move by Riot? Making itself more open so that people at least know what it's working on might open it up to more criticism, but at least it'll show it's listening and working on popular complaints.

The post Riot wants to better communicate with League players first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/professional/development/jon-martindale/riot-wants-to-better-communicate-with-league-players/feed/ 0
Reddit breaks down takedowns and user info requests https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/reddit-breaks-down-takedowns-and-user-info-requests/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/reddit-breaks-down-takedowns-and-user-info-requests/#respond Fri, 30 Jan 2015 16:12:13 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=233300 When you're as big as Reddit, with its near 200 million unique visitors, many of whom post content of their own, you're going to get a lot of requests from governments and organisations for user information; and for you to take down allegedly infringing content. Dealing with those requests is a mammoth task, but it's …

The post Reddit breaks down takedowns and user info requests first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
When you're as big as Reddit, with its near 200 million unique visitors, many of whom post content of their own, you're going to get a lot of requests from governments and organisations for user information; and for you to take down allegedly infringing content. Dealing with those requests is a mammoth task, but it's something that the site has explained in its new transparency report.

Throughout 2014, Reddit received 55 requests for user information from entities outside of Reddit itself. Almost all of these came from governments, either from elsewhere in the world or the US. All in all, Reddit didn't give out any information to the five international requests it had for data, though it did respond favourably to 59 per cent of US subpoenas and 88 per cent of US search warrants.

The most interesting stat among that information though, is that 30 per cent of all the civil and US federal requests for information contained a stipulation that Reddit was not allowed to inform the user(s) in question about the data handover. Reddit explained in the report that where possible, its “goal is to give users the information they need to seek legal advice before their records are disclosed. As stated in our privacy policy, we provide advance notice to affected users unless prohibited by a court order or where we decide delayed notice is appropriate based on clear criteria.”

redditreport

When it came to removing content posted by users – which can run the gamut from everything including inflammatory comments to links to copyright protected material – Reddit takes an equally serious approach, analysing (by hand, not automatically) each request that comes through. All in all, just 31 per cent of all trademark and copyright takedown requests were adhered to.

The report also highlights how many poorly filed, or illegitimate takedown requests were made: in short, a lot. Some failed to adhere to the rules set out by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, while others demanded entire subreddits be removed , rather than specifying the infringing content.

The site also took a stand against blaming people that link to content as infringers, stating: “Because links do not generally infringe copyright, we exercise extra scrutiny in assessing takedowns for links.”

When it came to alleged defamation, Reddit chose not to remove any requested content.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's nice to see Reddit standing up for its user base in many cases, which is somewhat surprising considering it is a child property of a giant publishing house.

The post Reddit breaks down takedowns and user info requests first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/reddit-breaks-down-takedowns-and-user-info-requests/feed/ 0
Governments continue to lean on Google for user info https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/governments-continue-to-lean-on-google-for-user-info/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/governments-continue-to-lean-on-google-for-user-info/#respond Tue, 16 Sep 2014 08:04:22 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=211790 Despite the fact that the world and his dog are now aware of the PRISM program in the US, Tempora here in the UK, Xkeyscore around the world and any number of other invasive programs, thanks to the efforts of Edward Snowden and other whistle blowers, it seems that Governments have actually stepped up surveillance. …

The post Governments continue to lean on Google for user info first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Despite the fact that the world and his dog are now aware of the PRISM program in the US, Tempora here in the UK, Xkeyscore around the world and any number of other invasive programs, thanks to the efforts of Edward Snowden and other whistle blowers, it seems that Governments have actually stepped up surveillance. Google has said that it's under increasing pressure to reveal user information, with demands for data increasing by over 15 per cent this year alone.

Perhaps more telling, is that the number of requests have gone up by 150 per cent in the past five years. Those numbers are even higher however if you limit the location to the United States. They jump up to 19 per cent and 250 per cent respectively.

This information comes out of the company's transparency report released earlier this week, which takes into consideration direct requests and those made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is the secretive program that allows the NSA to spy on US citizens and demand data from companies in secret.

google

Clearly however, Google's transparency reports are designed to incite a will for change in the people, as it goes on to suggest that in the current climate of surveillance, new legislation is needed.

“Governments have a legitimate and important role in fighting crime and investigating national security threats. To maintain public confidence in both government and technology, we need legislative reform that ensures surveillance powers are transparent, reasonably scoped by law, and subject to independent oversight,” reads the report.

It even goes so far as to back certain pieces of legislature, including the USA Freedom Act, which was championed by congressman Jim Sensenbrenner late last year and continues to be pushed forward by others today. It would make the mass collection of metadata illegal by most authorities and when companies like Google were forced to hand over data, they would be able to talk about it much more freely than they can right now.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The internet helped defeat SOPA, PIPA and it looks like its defended net neutrality with the recent protest. Surely it can put a stop to all this snooping too?

[Thanks Reuters]

Image Source: Robert Scoble

The post Governments continue to lean on Google for user info first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/governments-continue-to-lean-on-google-for-user-info/feed/ 0