Attorney General and Google Go To Court

Seamax News ^ | 2/28/06 | Morgan Sansbury

[EvilHomer]

The Justice Department will take Google to court on March 13 in San Jose, California, in response to Google’s repeated refusal to comply with federal subpoenas demanding information regarding the search engine’s database, specifically information related to searches conducted using the engine and the web sites available to Google’s users.

Google is the largest search engine in the world, and the only one that has not cooperated with the Justice Department so far. Google claims these demands are a violation of privacy, but the government has assured them that no individuals would be identified by name, only their searches would be handed over.

For Google, the issue may be one of principle. The information, if obtained by the federal government, would be used to bolster support for the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), a law which was passed in 1998 but was stalled with legal challenges. In 2004 it was sent back to a court of appeals for a trial based on its technical merit, and has been there ever since.

COPA was designed to protect children from viewing sexually explicit material online, but privacy advocates fear that such regulations could be used by the government for more than their stated purposes.

For almost 2 years the Justice Department has been fighting for COPA, and this is the most recent battleground. As the largest and most successful search engine, it would certainly set a precedent favorable to search engines like Google if the Justice Department could be defeated in a court of law. Likewise, if Google were defeated the case could be used by future governments to subpoena more than just anonymous search data.

[Nitro]

I guess at the end of the day idealism lost to the prospect of over a billion new Google users.

A billion people with no money to spend.

[NJ_gent]

"That data will eventually be sold to the highest bidder."

I disagree. I think Google is more innovative than others who've sold data. That, perhaps, is why Google is doing well and why they're all struggling to keep up.

[fhlh]

Th owners of Google despise this administration.
it is obvious they agree with the way the chicoms run things.

[Antonello]

This is not so much an issue of privacy (although it certainly involves that).

Rather it is an issue of setting precedent for 'fishing expedition' subpoenas served on someone not suspected of committing any crime in order to obtain information not associated with any specific criminal act. That is a totally indefensible move by the government, and even the non sequitur attacks on Google regarding their China dealings don't mitigate this.

[zerosix]

"For Google the matter may be principle. . ." Hardly, Google, you cave and bend over for China but refuse to follow other corporations in securing America. Give me a royal break!

[Nitro]

They cooperated, which is unfortunate.

Cooperation with Communists is communist.

They fight the USA and give in to Communist China?

[EvilHomer]

When it opens up a sixth of the population of the world to them, yes. It's a matter of making money, not sticking it to the bourgeois pigs of America.

[devane617]

Cramer got served...I figured his ranting and WAG'ing would eventually take him into a court room.

[NJ_gent]

"They fight the USA and give in to Communist China?"

I disagree with your premise. Google isn't fighting the United States of America; they're arguing a case with the Executive branch of the government of the United States before a member of the Judicial branch of the United States. That's hardly fighting the USA.

[Nitro]

I can see it now...

Ron Popeil selling rice steamers to 1.2 billion people.

How many people will we need to man the phones?

[EvilHomer]

The Chinese are coming into their own very quickly, that won't be so unrealistic in a few years.

[Nitro]

They are fighting the spirit of the law...

in one case they will give up info and another they won't..

no continuity, they either do or don't.

[at bay]

refuse to follow other corporations in securing America

Those that surrender freedom in the pursuit of security will soon have neither freedom nor security.

You want to go fishing, Gonzales? Get a pole.

[Nitro]

Correct, we also must consider India, which will actually surpass China in population some time this year, if they haven't already.

China is currrently at about 1.2 billion and India is on track to go 1.4 billion.

[NJ_gent]

"no continuity, they either do or don't."

I don't care who they hand data on French users to; all I care about is what's done with data relating to computers from the US. IP geolocation isn't as bad as some would like to think. It's quite accurate in the vast majority of cases where I've seen it used properly. I don't like that they've played the Chinese government's ballgame, but I understand why they did it. It's tough to cut yourself out of 1/6th of the world's population. My hope is that they use their position and influence to nudge the Chinese government out of their way enough to keep the Chinese people reasonably informed.

[Nitro]

I don't like the way China treats their people, but we have no right to tell them how to go. We can influence, but not dictate.... would you accept them telling you how to live?

Besides, current American culture leaves me cold, I am not sure we should be exporting it.

[desertlily]

Last week, during a Senate hearing, that guy Lantos was practically screaming at Google (and others) for having adjusted their search engine to accommodate China. He compared it to that phony example of IBM having helped Nazi Germany organize its "final solution" .......then he ordered the Google representative to say, "I am ashamed".....which, fortunately, he didn't do.

I guess the Attorney General is assuming that what's working for China, might also work for the US?

[mrsmith]

Google cynically plays the legal system for PR and the rubes applaud.

It should be the congress getting this info instead of the courts. It's their job to regulate- not the courts.

[inquest]

Google cynically plays the legal system for PR and the rubes applaud.

Right, if only we all could be as cool as you, things would be going so much better. Must be real frustrating being a legend in your own mind, huh?

[NJ_gent]

I didn't say anything in my last post about telling the Chinese people how to live. Are you sure you're replying to the right person?