Korea Ranks 5th in Google Censorship Requests

As reported widely in the international media, including the Chosun Ilbo, Google has launched a service that tracks government censorship requests directed to Google and YouTube.  The service is called Google Government Requests and can be accessed here.  From July to December of last year, Korea asked the internet search firm to remove 64 items from its services, placing Korea fifth highest in number of requests among the countries measured.  Of the 64 requests by Korea, online advertisements accounted for the largest share with 38 cases, followed by web search results with 18 cases.  Of the Korean government's requests, Google considered 89.1 percent to be justifiable and deleted the materials partially or completely.