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Google’s Fighting For Your Privacy Online
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-01-19
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Online privacy is an issue of constant debate. That debate shot through the roof when the Justice Department demanded Google adhere to a subpoena issued a year ago. The subpoena demanded the search engine company turn over a number of records in the name of online child pornography.
 | | Google Fights for Privacy |  |
This comes as the Bush administration tries to rework an online pornography law struck down by the Supreme Court. For this law, the feds want the ability to comb details of what Google users look for in their myriad searches.
Google hasn't given in yet on the year-old subpoena, which includes a request for one million random web addresses and the records for all searches done on Google from any one-week period according to Justice Dept. papers filed in a federal court on Wednesday.
All this is tied to a government war on pornography or more specifically child pornography. Congress past a law in 1998 requiring individuals interested in viewing the adult content to register with access codes and other to methods. This applied to all pornography, not just child pornography. The Supreme Court struck down the law two years ago as overly broad. The court established long before that pornography is protected speech under the first amendment.
The problem for Google is they pledge to protect personal information but then they also say they comply with government requests. Google has said no so far because they claim to turn over the requested information would violate the privacy rights of its user and would reveal company trade secrets. It's been assumed by many the both Yahoo and MSN have already turned over their records.
Here's the lowdown. While the government certainly has a vested interest in stopping child pornography (we all do), this perhaps isn't the best way to go about it. It's been fairly well established that no place really is secure against cyber attacks, certainly not the federal government. All kinds of companies and government agencies get hacked regularly. While the government's intentions may be absolutely noble, they couldn't guarantee that Google's secrets couldn't be leaked and also individuals are protected.
Many people put personal information in these search IDs. Things like names, addresses, phone numbers and other information might be in there. With enough of that kind of information and a little luck, hackers could easily cause problems, stripping the information right out of Justice Department computers. If hackers can crack the Department of Defense, surely the DOJ wouldn't be that difficult.
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About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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