The appointment was first reported by CNET, which stated that Wong would be “chief privacy officer;” later reports describe the post as “senior advisor” to United States CTO Todd Park.

and has yet to be confirmed, comes at a time of growing public concern over data collection tools that scour everything from smartphones to shopping records, and make it easy for companies and governments to collect information about individuals.

The Obama Administration’s decision to appoint Wong may therefore represent an attempt by the government to find new ways to balance the power of data with preserving liberty and privacy.

During her time at Google, Wong fought the governments of Turkey and Pakistan over YouTube censorship, and she has also worked with The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a respected cyber-advocacy group.

Wong’s appointment also comes at a time when Google chairman Eric Schmidt has been calling attention to the growing threat of governments using Western technology to spy on and oppress their citizens.

Wong, who joined Twitter last November, is the second long-time Google lawyer to be hired by the White House in recent months. The Administration recently hired former Googler Michelle Lee to head the troubled Patent Office.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Social media in Q1: commerce and discovery dominated
• Controversy, courtrooms and the cloud in Q1
• Facebook’s IPO filing: ideas and implications

Nicole Wong, who in recent years fought to unblock YouTube service in Turkey and Blogger in Pakistan, announced the news today:

New nest. Excited to #jointheflock. twitter.com/nicolewong/sta…

— nicolewong (@nicolewong) November 12, 2012

While such moves are hardly uncommon in the tech sector, Wong’s departure comes amidst what is starting to look like a mini-exodus from Google to Twitter. She joins general counsel Alex Macgillivray and other former Google lawyers Ben Lee and Bakari Brock. Meanwhile, Gabriel Stricker, Karen Wickre and Jim Prosser have recently joined Carolyn Penner on the communications team.

The moves comes at a time when Twitter has been branding itself as an advocate for the “user’s voice” and has gone to court several times over free speech issues.

More deeply, the Google DNA also runs through executives Katie Stanton and Doug Bowman, while Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and founder Evan Williams also did a stint at the search giant.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The 2013 task management tools market
• How consumer media will change in 2013
• Examining the rise of crowd labor platforms in 2012