Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/904009
maltatoday SUNDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2017 News 5 the police were duty-bound to investigate any report filed with them. "We're a small society, so if somebody says something about us online, we take it person- ally and people want an immediate remedy. In some cases, they'll report directly to Facebook but again, as a society, we tend to turn to the police immediately." Zammit stressed that service providers were not obliged to pass information on to local au- thorities and that, in addition to the number of requests, one needed also to consider the rate at which requests were accepted. He said that the Cybercrime Unit had de- veloped a relationship with Facebook over the years and had understood how to lodge requests that were more likely to be accepted. "From their end, there is also a better un- derstanding of the situation in Malta," said Zammit, adding that the police are sometimes required to provide Facebook with translations and the necessary local context. Google requests have also increased rapidly since 2013. Malta made 158 requests in 2017 alone, already exceeding the 139 made in 2016. The number was as low as 54 in 2013, reflect- ing ever-increasing use of social media and the internet. Unlike with Facebook, however, where the rate at which requests were accepted increased, Google request success rate has dropped sig- nificantly since 2013, falling from 83% to 38%. Zammit said the Cybercrime Unit was less familiar with Google representatives as it was with Facebook, the latter having sent people over to Malta on more than one occasion to discuss matters with the Police. He specified that with Google, almost all requests regarded Gmail accounts, normally involving suspicions of third parties gaining access to an email account, or a particular ad- dress being used to harass or defraud someone. Moreover, Zammit said that the European Commission had also held discussions with Google which saw the service provider adopt somewhat of a "one size fits all" approach in dealing with EU member states. "We have lost some of the arrangements we had related to the specificity of our cases," he said, adding that it was in both sides' interest to understand each other better. Zammit added that Facebook and Google were by far the most frequently dealt with platforms. In fact, a total of 10 requests were made by police to Dropbox, Twitter and LinkedIn com- bined. 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 250 200 150 100 50 0 Facebook user data requests Google user data requests 2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017* Requests by individual countries Malta UK USA Portugal France Germany Israel Singapore Belgium Netherlands 319 79 67 64 54 43 36 33 32 28 Total requests Requests denied Total requests Requests denied