Posted on 01/19/2006 10:36:33 AM PST by flashbunny
The Bush administration, seeking to revive an online pornography law struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, has subpoenaed Google Inc. for details on what its users have been looking for through its popular search engine.
Google has refused to comply with the subpoena, issued last year, for a broad range of material from its databases, including a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period, lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department said in papers filed Wednesday in federal court in San Jose.
Privacy advocates have been increasingly scrutinizing Google's practices as the company expands its offerings to include e-mail, driving directions, photo-sharing, instant messaging and Web journals.
Although Google pledges to protect personal information, the company's privacy policy says it complies with legal and government requests. Google also has no stated guidelines on how long it keeps data, leading critics to warn that retention is potentially forever given cheap storage costs.
The government contends it needs the data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches as part of an effort to revive an Internet child protection law that was struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court on free-speech grounds.
The 1998 Child Online Protection Act would have required adults to use access codes or other ways of registering before they could see objectionable material online, and it would have punished violators with fines up to $50,000 or jail time. The high court ruled that technology such as filtering software may better protect children.
The matter is now before a federal court in Pennsylvania, and the government wants the Google data to help argue that the law is more effective than software in protecting children from porn.
The Mountain View-based company told The San Jose Mercury News that it opposes releasing the information because it would violate the privacy rights of its users and would reveal company trade secrets.
Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google, said the company will fight the government's efforts "vigorously."
"Google is not a party to this lawsuit, and the demand for the information is overreaching," Wong said.
Imagine there was a nationwide chain of gun stores that everyone used. Kinda like the google of guns. They sell everything - handguns, evil assault weapons - you name it.
One day, the justice deparment wants to study the effects of the AWB sunset, to see if the availability of "assault weapons" have lead to an increase in certain types of crime.
So they subpoena EVERY 4473 from the chain in order to conduct their statistical study.
Doesn't matter if you broke any law. The federal government has access to your information - not because YOU committed a crime or they have probable cause - but merely because they WANT this information.
Would you support the federal government then?
It's hard to reason with the "Living Document" Conservatives.
You've bought into the activist interpretation.
So, you want a bunch of people who could only get government jobs to babysit your kids? That level of feeble compliance is suitable only for the feebleminded and Russians.
Exactly, and in dino's world view...then nothing could be done about that Porn movie being marketed to kids, because it'd be "Political Speech"!
Not that this difficulty prevents the concept from being popular with a certain sort of naive soul who hasn't really thought much about this distinction between "political" and "nonpolitical" speech.
I don't believe he's naive...he seems to be the controling authority that AlGore couldn't seem to find.
I have morals and standards, but I will not have my freedoms impinged on/curtailed/corrupted by anyone...ANYONE on either side that has an agenda! And no one will be dictating my morals and standards to me!
I will die in the streets with the words "Revolution" on my lips, and my Bushmaster in my cold, dead hands before I surrender to that world view
If you had any understanding of the history of political thought, you would be pretty embarrassed to take the view that the government has no role in raising future citizens correctly.
this is nuts.
hire some FBI agents to key in the search words, and when they find sites hosting child porn - find out where they are, and use legal due process to shut them down and bust them. what is so hard about that?
LOL, they have a thing for vibrating strings, I've heard.
And even under that standard, it is an abuse of power.
Google is not accused of wrongdoing. The government is exercising its subpeona power solely to gather statistical information. Which is an abuse of power, IMO.
but it's not even about child porn.
just about children being able to get regular porn online.
L
if someone can't see what's wrong with the federal government going on fishing expeditions with its unlimited resources, then they are beyond hope.
Good for you. Dream on.
This administration has also stated its desire to crank up the prosecution of "obscenity" in general.
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