[lbo-talk] Texas Chainsaw Match: Big Brother vs Google

[Michael Hoover]

>   By ELIZABETH LAZAROWITZ and DANIEL DUNAIEF
>       DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITERS
>                  
>       Google is rebuffing the government's demand
> for a peek at what millions of people have been
> looking up on the Internet's leading search engine -
> a request that raises concerns Big Brother may be
> watching a little too closely.
>
>       Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week
> asked a federal judge in San Jose for an order to
> force a handover of the requested records.
>
>       The government wants a list of all requests
> entered into Google's search engine during a single
> week - a breakdown that could span tens of millions
> of queries. In addition, it seeks one million
> randomly selected Web addresses from various Google
> databases.
>
>       The government says the information is vital
> to restore online child protection laws that have
> been struck down by the Supreme Court.
>
>       Privacy experts are concerned about the
> potential link connecting individuals with searches.
>
>       "We may well be living in a new era here in
> terms of governments and data flow," said Pam Dixon,
> the executive director of the nonprofit World
> Privacy Forum. "This subpoena could, if fulfilled as
> originally requested, definitely compromise the
> privacy of quite a few people."
>
>       Dixon said about 30% of searches are
> connectable to the searcher. Regardless of the
> outcome of the legal battle, Dixon advised people
> never to type their full name and social security
> number in a search.
>
>       Others expressed similar concerns.
>
>       "If you are registered with Google so you can
> use G-mail or some other bundled service and you
> search on Google, they can link your real identity
> to your search terms," said Kevin Bankston, a staff
> attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
>
>       "What you Google for defines you," said
> Bankston. "It reveals very often your greatest hopes
> and your deepest fears, your personal business and
> medical problems and issues ... and plenty of other
> First Amendment protected activities that you do
> online."
>
>       Google objected to the government's subpoena,
> saying it would reveal trade secrets by providing
> the data and disclose personally identifiable
> information about its users.
>
>       In response, the government said it would keep
> the data secret and that the request wasn't for
> personal information.
>
>       Nicole Wong, a Google lawyer said the demand
> for information "over-reaches."
>
>       The information would "assist the government
> in its efforts to understand the behavior of current
> Web users, to estimate how often Web users encounter
> harmful-to-minors material in the course of their
> searches," the government's filing said.
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