 Chinese officials under investigation for selling data: govt Beijing (AFP) April 28, 2016 - Hundreds of employees at China's top statistics bureau are being investigated after selling data, the government said Wednesday, despite longstanding doubts over the reliability of official figures. More than 300 NBS staff have also been asked to return 3.23 million yuan ($500,000) they made by selling annual reports and providing data to affiliates, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) -- the Communist party's internal corruption watchdog -- said on its website. The news comes just months after the former head of the NBS was sacked in a corruption probe -- announced shortly after he appeared at a briefing on China's economy when he reiterated that the country's gross domestic product calculations were reliable. Last year, official figures showed that China's economy grew at its slowest annual pace in a quarter of a century, but questions have repeatedly been raised about the accuracy of the Chinese government's economic data. Critics say it can be subject to political manipulation in a country where the ruling party depends on growth for legitimacy. The CCDI statement also said the statistics agency had failed to keep pace with changes in the economy, and noted problems with sales of handheld data-collection devices.
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Facebook said Thursday it had received 13 percent more government requests for user data in the second half of 2015, with more than 46,000 requests worldwide.
The leading social network, in its twice-annual "transparency report," said the number of items "restricted" for violating local laws more than doubled compared to the prior six-month period, to 55,827.
"Overall, we continue to see an increase globally in government requests for user data and content restrictions pursuant to local law," Facebook deputy general counsel Chris Sonderby said.
The details come as the technology industry is embroiled in debate on how governments should gain access to user data, and how the requests should be disclosed to users and the public. Facebook and other tech firms have emphasized that they only turn over user data when served with legitimate legal orders such as warrants or subpoenas.
The United States accounted for the largest number of law enforcement queries, with 19,235 queries affecting 30,041 accounts. Facebook said it produced at least some data in 81 percent of those cases.
"We recognize there are serious threats to public safety and that law enforcement has an important responsibility to keep people safe," Sonderby said in a blog post.
"Our legal and safety teams work hard to respond to legitimate law enforcement requests while fulfilling our responsibility to protect people's privacy and security."
He noted that Facebook "does not provide any government with 'back doors' or direct access to people's data," and that the company examines each request "for legal sufficiency, no matter which country is making the request."
Other countries making large numbers of queries included India (5,561), Britain (4,190), Germany (3,140) and France (2,711).
Giving an example of a case where Facebook blocked or removed content on user pages, Sonderby said the company "restricted access" to more than 32,000 individual photos that almost all stemmed from one original image related to the November 2015 attacks in Paris.
The photo "was alleged to violate French laws related to protecting human dignity," and Facebook restricted the photo, in France only, "in response to a legal request from the French government," Sonderby said.
In the United States, Facebook said it received between zero and 499 "national security letters" which relate mostly to secret FBI investigations, complying with an accord that allows only the range of requests to be reported.
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