Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Government requests for user information double since 2010
Thursday, November 14, 2013
In a year in which government surveillance has dominated the headlines, today we’re
updating our Transparency Report
for the eighth time. Since we began sharing these figures with you
in 2010
, requests from governments for user information have increased by more than 100 percent. This comes as usage of our services continues to grow, but also as more governments have made requests than ever before. And these numbers only include the requests we’re allowed to publish.
Over the past three years, we’ve continued to add more details to the report, and we’re doing so again today. We’re including additional information about legal process for U.S. criminal requests: breaking out emergency disclosures, wiretap orders,
pen register
orders and other court orders.
We want to go even further. We believe it’s your right to know what kinds of requests and how many each government is making of us and other companies. However, the U.S. Department of Justice contends that U.S. law does not allow us to share information about some national security requests that we might receive. Specifically, the U.S. government argues that we cannot share information about the requests we receive (if any) under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But you deserve to know.
Earlier this year, we brought a federal case to assert that we do indeed have the right to shine more light on the FISA process. In addition, we recently wrote
a letter of support
(PDF) for two pieces of legislation currently proposed in the U.S. Congress. And we’re asking governments around the world to uphold international legal agreements that respect the laws of different countries and guarantee standards for due process are met.
Our promise to you is to continue to make this report robust, to defend your information from overly broad government requests, and to push for greater transparency around the world.
Posted by Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security
Street View floats into Venice
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Venice was once described as “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man,” and from these pictures it’s hard to disagree. You can now explore panoramic imagery of one of the most romantic spots in the world, captured with our Street View
Trekker
technology.
It was impossible for us to collect images of Venice with a Street View car or trike—blame the picturesque canals and narrow cobbled walkways—but our team of backpackers took to the streets to give Google Maps a truly
Shakespearean
backdrop. And not just the streets—we also loaded the Trekker onto a boat and floated by the famous gondolas to give you the best experience of Venice short of being there.
Our Trekker operator taking a well-earned rest while the gondolier does the hard work
The beautiful
Piazza San Marco
, where you can discover Doge's Palace, St. Marks' Cathedral, the bell tower, the Marciana National Library and the clocktower
We covered a lot of ground—about 265 miles on foot and 114 miles by boat—capturing not only iconic landmarks but several hidden gems, such as the
Synagogue
of the first Jewish
Ghetto
, the Devil’s Bridge in Torcello island, a
mask
to scare the same Devil off the church of Santa Maria Formosa and the
place
where the typographer
Manutius
created the Italics font. Unfortunately, Street View can’t serve you a
cicchetto
(local appetizer) in a classic
bacaro
(a typical Venetian bar), though we can show you how to get there.
The
Devil’s Bridge
in Torcello Island
Once you’ve explored the city streets of today, you can immerse yourself in the beauty of Venice’s past by diving deep in to the artworks of the
Museo Correr
, which has joined the
Google Cultural Institute
along with
Museo del Vetro
and
Ca’ Pesaro - International Gallery of Modern Art
.
Compare the modern streets with paintings of the same spots by artists such as Carpaccio and Cesare Vecellio
Or delve into historical maps of Venice, like this one showing the Frari Church, built in 1396
Finally, take a look
behind the scenes
showing how we captured our Street View imagery in Venice.
The Floating City is steeped in culture; it’s easy to see why it’s retained a unique fascination and romance for artists, filmmakers, musicians, playwrights and pilgrims through the centuries—and now, we hope, for Street View tourists too.
Posted by Daniele Rizzetto, Street View Operations Manager (and proud Venetian!)
Playing for online safety in Russia
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Although educational topics such as child safety and digital literacy may appear to be studious, virtuous but perhaps even a little dull, we’re working hard to make them fun and interactive.
Our new
Russian digital literacy project
, developed with Moscow State University’s Department of Psychology, the Foundation for Internet Development, and the Russian Institute for Education Development of the Ministry of Education, puts teens in the futuristic world of an
Internet laboratory
inhabited by amiable robots. The robots give out helpful advice on how to tell facts from lies on the web, what copyright online is, what information should and should not be shared about yourself and others, and how to protect your data from fraudsters and phishing. At the end of their journey, students complete a
test
that evaluates their digital literacy skills and awards Google certificates. Those who score the most points gain the status of ‘Internet Legend’.
The Russian program is only one of efforts across the region to promote online child safety. In Germany, we have created
Juki
, combining video community, interactive lessons, an encyclopedia, and an animation studio, all designed with child safety in mind. In Israel, our
Web Rangers
transform traditional scouting.
We believe such educational efforts represent the best ways to increase online safety as many risks teens face online, such as bullying, are difficult if not impossible to combat through regulation or filtering technologies. This was also proven by the results of the first ever
Russian study
which measured the level of digital literacy skills of Russian school children aged 12-17. Key findings include:
75% of kids learnt to use Internet on their own, without help from school or parents;
55% of Russian kids agree to meet online strangers in real life without even letting grownups know (compared to the EU's
9% average
);
both teens and parents expressed strong willingness to receive additional training on online safety and hope schools would help to provide necessary literacy programmes; fewer than 20% of parents believe legislation will help keep their children safe online, despite the Russian Law on Protecting Children from Harmful Information which entered force in November 2012; parents claimed digital literacy programs and education are a key to family safety on the Internet.
Russian children have fun studying web safety
Creating a code of conduct for web surfing
At the same time, we recognize the need for companies to step up on protecting children. Our project in Russia arms
teachers
with a textbook and interactive exercises kit for the classroom. It gives useful tips for teachers and parents on how to turn on safety tools on Google Search, YouTube and Android based on the
Good to Know
educational portal, and includes advice from educators and psychologists on how to explain key online safety rules to teenagers through case studies, games and
videos
.
Teachers in Moscow and several other Russian regions have already received training through this programme and are now actively using it in their schools. One of the exercises encourages kids to create their own code of conduct on the web, then discuss and share their experiences with teachers and fellow students. We look forward to seeing the program spread in schools throughout the country.
Posted by Ksenia Karyakina, Senior Policy Analyst, Russia
Bienvenue CANAL +!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Ever since it was launched in 1984,
CANAL+
has played a pivotal role in boosting French culture. Much like
HBO
in the United States, the pay-tv broadcaster financed many of France’s most daring films and became home for many of France’s most innovative television shows, including the sharp-hitting and hilarious
Guignols
that spoofed and titilated the French political world. That’s why we take special pleasure today in announcing a new partnership between CANAL+ Group and YouTube.
Les Guignols
Under the new partnership, CANAL + will launch about 20 different channels on YouTube, bringing some of France’s most iconic TV shows all across the world, including
Le Grand Journa
l or
le Petit Journal
. In addition to featuring CANAL+ content, the new YouTube channels will also show highlights from CANAL+ Group’’s other broadcast outlets, including D8, D17 and i>Télé.
The partnership will also support new talent through a new label, Canal Factory. CANAL+ will use its online distribution with YouTube to feature new shows created only for the web. It will experiment with different formats and short original productions. In the past, CANAL+ Group has discovered online new artists such as les Kairas and tested new formats such as the wacky web series at Cannes 2013.
Over the past decade, YouTube has not only become the largest online video service in the world, but it has reshaped the way information is produced, distributed, and accessed. More than one billion people are finding and subscribing to the channels they love on YouTube every month. That’s almost half the people on the Internet.
YouTube channels are attracting a global generation of viewers that has grown up watching what they want, whenever they want, on whatever device is closest. With this new partnership, we’re very excited to help CANAL+ boost viewership and engagement for some of France’s most iconic audiovisual creations and shows and are delighted to bring all this great content to our YouTube community across the world.
This partnership represents exciting news for all lovers of French culture.
Posted by Helene Barrot, Communications and Public Affairs Manager, YouTube, Paris
Thrilling Germany’s next generation of technologists
Friday, November 8, 2013
In 2011, students at the High School Walburgisgymnasium Menden founded
Technik Begeistert
(literally, Thrilled by Technology) and sought to share their enthusiasm for robots. Two years on, the group’s leader, Markus Fleige and his team are among the brightest stars to emerge from the Google
RISE Awards
, a position underlined by
MINT Zukunft Schaffen’s
decision last month to name Markus as STEM Ambassador of the year.
The Technik Begeistert Team
Since Markus and Technik Begeistert received the RISE Award in January 2013, the number of teams entering the German rounds of the
World Robotics Olympiad
has more than doubled. Markus has launched a weekly
YouTube series
to enthuse teachers, students and parents. In 2014 Technik Begeistert will extend their efforts to target the 8-12 age group as well as continuing their strong focus on inspiring girls to try robotics.
Addressing the gender gap in tech is a common theme across Google’s Education Outreach in Germany. We support the
Bundeswettbewerb Informatik
, Germany’s national coding contest. Each year girls who enter the contest are invited to spend a day at Google’s engineering office in Munich, where they can be inspired by our growing team of female computer scientists. As a result, participation of girls in the finals increased from under 4% to over 20% in just one year.
This year two of the six national winners were female.
Juliane Baldus
went on to win a silver medal at the International Informatics Olympiad in Sydney. Our support has also been extended to the
Jugend Forscht
competition this year to inspire young researchers in science and technology.
These are just some of the many innovative initiatives Google is proud to support in Germany, with the goal of inspiring the next generation of computer scientists, and giving all children the opportunity to become creators, not simply consumers, of tomorrow’s technology.
Posted by Alison Cutler, Pre-University Education Outreach, EMEA
Expanding our data center in Finland
Monday, November 4, 2013
Six decades ago, the famed Finnish architect
Alvar Aalto
built a stunning red-brick paper mill in Eastern Finland. After the plant was shut, we bought it have transformed it into a modern data center - literally jumping from the industrial to the digital age. Today, Finnish Prime Minister
Jyrki Katainan
joined us at our Hamina data center in Eastern Finland to announce a EUR450 million expansion to what already is one of the world’s most efficient and largest facilities.
Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainan visits our Hamina construction site.
Many of our data centres are located in traditional industrial areas where one might not immediately think of being the home for a Google facility. In Finland, the region around our Hamina data centre stands at the heart of a region hard-hit by the retrenchment of its paper industry.
Our data centers can provide real motors to reinvigorate these industrial regions. With our financial support, the prestigious
Aalto University
and the regional development agency Cursor are working to bolster promising startups and to improve the use of the Internet by local small and medium sized industries. Cursor is strengthening the
Venture Gym
acceleration program around the growing
Playa Game Industry Hub
, as well as the region's
Kaakko 135 travel
and tourism initiative. Already, some 800 people and dozens of companies in the region have participated in Aalto-Cursor workshops, not only in the region, but also in Helsinki, London and Cambridge.
Today’s announcement will triple the size of the existing facility, which became operational in September 2011. At its peak, approximately 800 engineering and construction workers, most of whom will be Finnish, will be engaged on the site. Some 125 people currently employed at the datacenter in full time and contractor roles across engineering, technical work, security, food service, and buildings and grounds maintenance. All of our open positions can be found on
Google Jobs page
for positions in Finland.
Alvar Aalto never lived to see the Internet and data centers. But we hope he would have been pleased to see how our data center safeguards and updates his spirit of pioneering architecture.
Posted by William Echikson, Head of community relations, Europe
A Greek boot camp for startups
Thursday, October 31, 2013
After suffering an economic catastrophe, seeing a quarter of GDP evaporate over the past five years, Greece needs more than ever to encourage entrepreneurs. In an attempt to do just this, we recently inaugurated "Google Launchpad", a four-day boot camp for early stage start-ups, in Athens.
Greece is a country of highly qualified youth, ranking 10th in the world in availability of scientists and engineers. But it is ravaged by 60% unemployment (highest in the European Union) among youth under the age of 30. Our goal at Launchpad is to marry this potential talent with exciting opportunities.
The project brought together 80 developers and entrepreneurs from around Greece. They formed teams and organized their startups over the course of a week, under the guidance and mentoring from local Greek and visiting Israeli Googlers. Our first Google Launchpad took place in start-up hub Israel, and the Israeli experience provided crucial inspiration.
Some 13 start-ups ended up pitching their plans and prototypes to a panel of VC funders. Three winners were chosen:
· SpeakerZen, an app that presenters can use to get instant feedback from their audience
· SponsorBoat, an event marketplace connecting sponsors with event promoters
· Processus.io, a process management platform for SMB efficiency
Each received a three month package of support with office space, facilities,
legal/accounting advice and mentoring
,
recruiting services
as well as the Google Developers Startup Pack including $18,000 towards Google Cloud Platform products.
Congratulations! We hope these exciting ideas soon will be powering some exciting Greek startups.
Posted by Dionisis Kolokotsas, Policy Manager, Athens
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