Google accuses the government of snooping on internet users

The government might be snooping on your internet activities, Google's chief legal officer warned in a public statement Monday.

Sound familiar? Google's warning comes just as it's getting hit with a lawsuit in the UK for allegedly secretly tracking people's browsing habits. Talk about great timing. 

On the official Google blog, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond announced that Google receives dozens of requests each day from government agencies around the world seeking access to users' private account information. 

More from GlobalPost: Google staff knew about Street View snooping, full FCC report says

The majority of the requests in recent months have come from the United States government, The New York Times reported. In the last six months, United States officials made 8,438 requests for data, according to the Times. Google says it complied with at least part of 88 percent of requests.

“We want people to know that we are not going to just roll over but we are going to make sure that governments around the world follow standards and do this in a reasonable way that strikes the balance,” Drummond told the Times.

Drummond's remarks come as Google is facing a legal battle from UK internet users. A group of 12 people is suing Google, the Daily Telegraph reported Monday. They say that cookies were installed by Google on their Apple computers, without their knowledge, which would allow Google to secretly track their internet habits.  

Google was also fined $22.5 million in the United States last year for using tracking cookies through its Safari browser.

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