Google revealed that government demands for information on its users have increased 150% since Google first started publishing their numbers. As for the United States, the number of requests increased over 250%.

The latest transparency report of the search giant revealed that in the first half of 2014, the number of government demands increased 15% compared to the previous period, and 150% since the company first started publishing the reports 5 years ago. In the United States, these numbers were 19% and 250% respectively.

The most interesting fact is that this increase comes against a backdrop of revelations about government surveillance programs. Despite Snowden’s efforts, some countries are seen to expand their surveillance authorities, trying to reach service providers outside their borders.

President Obama asked Congress to stop the mass collection of data from American citizens earlier in 2014 after revelations about the NSA massive surveillance programs. Apparently, the reform has proved difficult to achieve.

In the meantime, Yahoo has recently won the right to disclose details of its secret fight with the American government 6 years ago over demands for users’ data. According to court papers, the government has asked for a daily fine of $250,000 if the company refused to comply with its demands. Moreover, the fine was set to double in the case of further refusal.

Aside from Yahoo, Google’s report can also reveal the number of requests for information made by the NSA. However, the tech giants are in some way limited in the amount of detail they are allowed to share about such requests. Google is allowed to report a number (within a broad range) that reflects how many requests were received, but only after 6 months. So, in the second half of 2013, the company received between 0 and 1,999 requests from the NSA.

Google has also supported the USA Freedom Act, which would prevent the bulk collection of online metadata under various legal authorities. Metadata includes such details as where an email or call was made, where it went, how long it lasted and other similar non-content details. The USA Freedom Act would allow the tech giant to be more transparent about the national security demands it receives.

In addition, Google also called on Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to ensure that the government must obtain a search warrant before demanding the disclosure of the user’s communication from the service provider. Aside from Google, over 100,000 people have signed a petition that urged the White House to back this bill, which also received bipartisan support from over 260 House Members (in fact, this is well over a majority of the House) and passed the Senate judiciary committee 18 months ago.

Now the Congress is urged to take a chance to pass historic legislation that would help the government restore trust that has been lost.