Forum Moderators: goodroi
It's strange b/c it is not for any specific criminal case. Also were any other SEs subpoenaed or was it just Google?
Interesting part here:
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.
Hey Nicole, how about NOT keeping the info forever to begin with? If you don't have it, they can't ask for it. It is just a matter of time before Google is forced to reveal searches
Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for... records of all Google searches from any one-week period.
If Google released one weeks worth of Google queries for use in a court of law, then wouldn't it eventually become public record?
That's an important amount of data.
ZDNet links to the court documents and says that other SEs, including AOL, MSN and Yahoo, complied voluntarily.
[news.zdnet.com...]
[news.zdnet.com...]
bears repeating
*edit* heh, just noticed you posted zdnet... same article, different branch of Cnet :)
It looks like Yahoo and others bent over without a fight. I'm glad Google took a stand, regardless of the eventual outcome.
I wish I could go more in depth with this but I respect that no politics be discussed in WW.
Not really a privacy issue, however the precendent is scary. The next order might require search strings and all the info for the searcher.
the simple fact is google collects this info, uses it for however they feel and personally i'm more comfortable with someone elected getting this than some black box corporation holding on to it.
but then again, i despise our current administration so screw them all. The problem isn't our government asking for data its the people running our government using the data to push an agenda rather than solve a pressing issue.
"oh, iraq is going bad, osama is back so lets focus on some kid porn law for those 'family values'" and google is going "screw this, we have an upper hand, lets play the game and look good but actually not take a stand and ride the wave and people will forget about this tomorrow"
way to blow it google.
Will the goverment soon ask for access to our emails?
If you are a US citizen, this has already been put in place:
[en.wikipedia.org...]
Now I have my answer.
How naive can you be?
[marketingvox.com...]
link on the post above mine.
Thank you. There are no privacy concerns here. Google is making a business decision, not a privacy decision. I wish these morons in the media would stop making this into something that it's not.
I have to agree . Be very carefull what you leave online.
So, what purpose does this information serve to the Government except for the lobbyists? It's all about precedence, and that's scary.
I disagree - over half the queries entered into searchh engines are unique. Some of these will have identifying info. Just because most of them won't doesn't mean there aren't privacy concerns. I have typed in detailed queries before that I would not want anyone to see. I don't care that they probably don't trace back to me.
Lots of people google themselves - and add on other queries to narrow down the pages.
Even if 99% of people don't care if the gov't has this info - I do - and so do others. The governement has no legitimate need for the info. They do not need it to try and prove their case - which every court that has heard it has said will not likely prevail onb the merits.
Lets say that Google ends up having to provide the information, there is a chance they will. A year goes by and the US government decides to use that instance as the groundwork to obtain random information from search engines. Maybe some IP addresses, or some other identifiable means of information.
Google is a US based company, but the information they collect is world wide. Would this not be a possible infringement of privacy laws in other countries? Countries like China, UK, Russia, and so on.
At a glance, this could be more of an international thing in the long run because if the US Government is the only nation to have access to it, then other countries will flip out.
So, I am going to put my tin foil hat on for just one second and take it right back off, i promise.
If that is the case, and it could very well be, would it be a fair assumption to say that there is a chance that more than the US would have a vested interest in this so they may possibly be able to gather private information as well?
Mabey that is one of the reasons that the UN wants to become more involved with the internet?
Ok, the tinfoil is giving me a headache. It's off.
While I am pretty sure the answer would be no about China and Russia - the UK and EU could be a different story.
This can be tricky and sometimes SEs run against similar situations with conflicts in laws.
Google will follow what the courts tell them If a US court orders them to hand over the data - there is nothing they can do except appeal it - and then assuming they lose - then they will have to hand over the data.
I find it hard to believe any law in another country would hold Google liable for something that is beyond their control.
