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Google Gets A Win Against DOJ
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-03-20
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A federal court ruled Friday in favor of Google, protecting their ability to keep their searches private. The Justice Dept. requested information they claimed would help them in protecting an antipornography law currently being challenged in the court system.
 | | Google Gets A Win Against DOJ |  |
This case remains a heated point of contention on the Internet because many feel the real issue at stake is privacy. Google touted the primary reason was to protect trade secrets as well as the privacy of the users. The ruling went heavily toward Google's favor because instead of giving the Justice Dept. two months of search queries, the judge placed serious limits on the scope of the investigation.
Those limitations include the exclusion of search queries as well as a requirement to narrow the search down to 50,000 URLs instead of the millions initially subpoenaed. According to Google's blog post, Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel, said the company would comply fully with the order.
There are a number of issues to be addressed here though now that this decision has been handed down. First, it's not a complete victory for Google. They still must turn over indexed data. While it's not perfect, it's certainly better than the original ruling. Google's going to have its work cut out for it. It's also still a problem with privacy, which realistically, is what this is really about.
Privacy issues and having information online protected is crucial. This is why the government, in the past, is not one to be trusted with personal, private information. The U.S. government has a reputation of being fast and loose with its own cybersecurity. There's no reason to think they would be the same way with information they receive from Google or other companies.
With the FBI needing a network overhaul and military computers subject to the whims of hackers around the world, it's become apparent, the government has neither the competence nor the inclination to handle individuals' data with some semblance of privacy. Quite frankly, the feds have lousy track records at protecting information.
This moves on the next topic of Google retaining all the information indefinitely. This seems like a lot of information and it seems like there's incredible potential for abuse. What happens when Brin, Page and Schmidt are gone and the corporate entity known as Google becomes selling off the information to the highest bidder or the federal government.
Finally, there's the issue that WebProNews writer David Utter added into the story and that's the notion of Microsoft and Yahoo rolling over almost immediately and capitulating to the whims of the government. The companies have a history of doing just this. They gave the federal government access to all the search threads. Also consider AT&T allowed the feds to run rampant over their databases and information. It seems like these companies are absolutely complicit in allowing the federal government work over privacy rules in this country.
In the end, privacy may be a delusion but it doesn't mean it's not worth protecting. As companies like Google strive to protect themselves and their users from these infringements, it's makes one wonder where they next battle lines will be drawn.
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About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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