Google has told the US Government effectively to take a long walk off a short pier when it comes to handing over details on their search results. In the past year or two, MSN, Yahoo and AOL have all complied – not Google.
The Bush Administration has asked a federal judge to order the world’s most popular internet search engine to hand over the records of all Google searches for any one-week period, as well as other closely guarded data. Google of course are going to fight the move, but I’m curious as to how far the government will go. Is it a large step in terms of privacy protection for Google, or is there another Microsoft-sytle lawsuit in the offing?
The department wants the data in relation to an online pornography law, but Google says the move threatens trade secrets. Privacy groups also fear a precedent at a time when the government wants to use internet data to fight crime and terrorism.
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