Personnel Freedom my butt

[elsid13]

I very surprise that no one is talking about this story. For being a keep government out of peoples' lives, the current administration seems to love to dig up dirt about us.

Google Rebuffs Feds on Search Requests By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer
32 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/...google_records


Google Inc. is rebuffing the Bush administration's demand for a peek at what millions of people have been looking up on the Internet's leading search engine — a request that underscores the potential for online databases to become tools for government surveillance.

Mountain View-based Google has refused to comply with a White House subpoena first issued last summer, prompting U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week to ask a federal judge in San Jose for an order to hand over the requested records.
The government wants a list all requests entered into Google's search engine during an unspecified single week — a breakdown that could conceivably span tens of millions of queries. In addition, it seeks 1 million randomly selected Web addresses from various Google databases.

In court papers that the San Jose Mercury News reported on after seeing them Wednesday, the Bush administration depicts the information as vital in its effort to restore online child protection laws that have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), which runs the Internet's second-most used search engine behind Google, confirmed Thursday that it had complied with a similar government subpoena.

Although the government says it isn't seeking any data that ties personal information to search requests, the subpoena still raises serious privacy concerns, experts said. Those worries have been magnified by recent revelations that the White House authorized eavesdropping on civilian communications after the Sept. 11 attacks without obtaining court approval.

"Search engines now play such an important part in our daily lives that many people probably contact Google more often than they do their own mother," said Thomas Burke, a San Francisco attorney who has handled several prominent cases involving privacy issues.

"Just as most people would be upset if the government wanted to know how much you called your mother and what you talked about, they should be upset about this, too."

The content of search request sometimes contain information about the person making the query.

For instance, it's not unusual for search requests to include names, medical profiles or Social Security information, said Pam Dixon, executive director for the World Privacy Forum.

"This is exactly the kind of thing we have been worrying about with search engines for some time," Dixon said. "Google should be commended for fighting this."

Every other search engine served similar subpoenas by the Bush administration has complied so far, according to court documents. The cooperating search engines weren't identified.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo stressed that it didn't reveal any personal information. "We are rigorous defenders of our users' privacy," Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako said Thursday. "In our opinion, this is not a privacy issue."

Microsoft Corp. MSN, the No. 3 search engine, declined to say whether it even received a similar subpoena. "MSN works closely with law enforcement officials worldwide to assist them when requested," the company said in a statement.

As the Internet's dominant search engine, Google has built up a valuable storehouse of information that "makes it a very attractive target for law enforcement," said Chris Hoofnagle, senior counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

The Department of Justice argues that Google's cooperation is essential in its effort to simulate how people navigate the Web.

In a separate case in Pennsylvania, the Bush administration is trying to prove that Internet filters don't do an adequate job of preventing children from accessing online pornography and other objectionable destinations.

Obtaining the subpoenaed information from Google "would assist the government in its efforts to understand the behavior of current Web users, (and) to estimate how often Web users encounter harmful-to-minors material in the course of their searches," the Justice Department wrote in a brief filed Wednesday

Google — whose motto when it went public in 2004 was "do no evil" — contends that submitting to the subpoena would represent a betrayal to its users, even if all personal information is stripped from the search terms sought by the government.

"Google's acceding to the request would suggest that it is willing to reveal information about those who use its services. This is not a perception that Google can accept," company attorney Ashok Ramani wrote in a letter included in the government's filing.

Complying with the subpoena also wound threaten to expose some of Google's "crown-jewel trade secrets," Ramani wrote. Google is particularly concerned that the information could be used to deduce the size of its index and how many computers it uses to crunch the requests.

"This information would be highly valuable to competitors or miscreants seeking to harm Google's business," Ramani wrote.

Dixon is hoping Google's battle with the government reminds people to be careful how they interact with search engines.

"When you are looking at that blank search box, you should remember that what you fill can come back to haunt you unless you take precautions," she said.

___

On the Web:

http://www.worldprivacyforum.org

Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://www.epic.org

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by elsid13

I very surprise that no one is talking about this story. For being a keep government out of peoples' lives, the current administration seems to love to dig up dirt about us.

I too find it funny that the "get government off our backs" types are willing to repeatedly turn a blind eye to the boy king's criminal attempts to remove the checks and balances and the limits on executive power stipulated by the framers of our Constitution.

(Oops, I almost forgot: According to the smirking pinhead, the Constitution is "just a goddamn piece of paper.")

I guess we have to remind ourselves that the small contingent of freaks in America who still support Bush are incapable of understanding politics in terms other than those of a football game: It's all about "go team GOP." Bush may be a crook, but he's their crook.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Quote of the Day

"The idea of Republicans reforming themselves is like asking John Gotti to clean up organized crime."

- Harry Reid

http://susiemadrak.com/2006/01/17/15...of-the-day-14/

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

[bendog]

Pelosi in charge of reform .... God. Pick one.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Bush trying to broaden his spying powers, who would a thunk it?
If you use Yahoo for any surfing at all I would highly reccomend to stay away from them as they ARE giving the government their records of individual users who are using their services.

What's it going to take for people to realize what this administration is about?

-----------------------------------------------
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer Fri Jan 20, 5:47 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. is rebuffing the Bush administration's demand for a peek at what millions of people have been looking up on the Internet's leading search engine — a request that underscores the potential for online databases to become tools for government surveillance.

Mountain View-based Google has refused to comply with a White House subpoena first issued last summer, prompting U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week to ask a federal judge in San Jose for an order to hand over the requested records.

The government wants a list all requests entered into Google's search engine during an unspecified single week — a breakdown that could conceivably span tens of millions of queries. In addition, it seeks 1 million randomly selected Web addresses from various Google databases.

In court papers that the San Jose Mercury News reported on after seeing them Wednesday, the Bush administration depicts the information as vital in its effort to restore online child protection laws that have been struck down by the
U.S. Supreme Court.

Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), which runs the Internet's second-most used search engine behind Google, confirmed Thursday that it had complied with a similar government subpoena.
(CONTINUED)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/...google_records

[Garcia Bronco]

"Obtaining the subpoenaed information from Google "would assist the government in its efforts to understand the behavior of current Web users, (and) to estimate how often Web users encounter harmful-to-minors material in the course of their searches," the Justice Department wrote in a brief filed Wednesday "

I can't believe people would have a problem with this...but if they shut down the porn I guess California would go out of business. It needs to be monitiored...but I don't have a problem with this at all.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

"Obtaining the subpoenaed information from Google "would assist the government in its efforts to understand the behavior of current Web users, (and) to estimate how often Web users encounter harmful-to-minors material in the course of their searches," the Justice Department wrote in a brief filed Wednesday "

I can't believe people would have a problem with this...but if they shut down the porn I guess California would go out of business. It needs to be monitiored...but I don't have a problem with this at all.

Are you kidding? Probably not since you give Bush a pass on so many things.


The government wants a list all requests entered into Google's search engine during an unspecified single week — a breakdown that could conceivably span tens of millions of queries. In addition, it seeks 1 million randomly selected Web addresses from various Google databases.

[TheDave]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

I can't believe people would have a problem with this...but if they shut down the porn I guess California would go out of business. It needs to be monitiored...but I don't have a problem with this at all.

I couldn't disagree more. There is more to this than "Porn"... Having done some work with internet marketing and Search Engine optimization most of this info is already available to the public. Trying to find what people are "Searching" for is not difficult at all. They are looking for something else, when they decide to be honest with their request then i will consider it.

[W*GS]

This whole thing is utter bull****. The government, Bush in particular, have no authority or power to investigate what people do on Google.

Screw them.

[Rascal]

I find this absolutely horrible, and I sincerely doubt that the governments true intentions are what they listed. That is just their cover story. They are lying to us yet again.

Good for Google to stick it to them, I am more then disappointed with yahoo though. I'll be using Google exlusively now just because of their willingness to stand up for what they believe is right. Wish more companies would do that.

I've sent a letter to my congressman about this...I urge you all to do the same.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Just finished talking to a supervisor at Yahoo customer service who tried to qualify their subpoena as for a limited number of porn sites and saying MSN and AOL had given Bush this information too. When I told him of the quote below he said I had more information than him and admitted he really didn't know what was requested. He gave me their corporate number (408-349-3300) but I can get in contact with no one there.

The government wants a list all requests entered into Google's search engine during an unspecified single week — a breakdown that could conceivably span tens of millions of queries. In addition, it seeks 1 million randomly selected Web addresses from various Google databases.

[Garcia Bronco]

"Google — whose motto when it went public in 2004 was "do no evil" — contends that submitting to the subpoena would represent a betrayal to its users, even if all personal information is stripped from the search terms sought by the government"


this is incorrect...it's not a betrayal at all. There is no agreement between myself and google. I would expect anything I search for to be a matter of public record or their record..either way it's subject to review by a court of law.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by TheDave

I couldn't disagree more. There is more to this than "Porn"... Having done some work with internet marketing and Search Engine optimization most of this info is already available to the public. Trying to find what people are "Searching" for is not difficult at all. They are looking for something else, when they decide to be honest with their request then i will consider it.

That might very well be true.

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

"Google — whose motto when it went public in 2004 was "do no evil" — contends that submitting to the subpoena would represent a betrayal to its users, even if all personal information is stripped from the search terms sought by the government"


this is incorrect...it's not a betrayal at all. There is no agreement between myself and google. I would expect anything I search for to be a matter of public record or their record..either way it's subject to review by a court of law.

EULA

[enjolras]

this is incorrect...it's not a betrayal at all. There is no agreement between myself and google. I would expect anything I search for to be a matter of public record or their record..either way it's subject to review by a court of law.

What court is involved in this? Its a executive branch request.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by amesj523

EULA

I, personally, don't have any material from them to even warrant a EULA. And why would I? It's search engine.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by enjolras

What court is involved in this? Its a executive branch request.

I meant to say Executive Branch. Either way...the President has the right to request it...and now Google has the right to challege it. It's a beautiful thing.

[Hogan11]

Originally Posted by W*GS

This whole thing is utter bull****. The government, Bush in particular, have no authority or power to investigate what people do on Google.

Screw them.

Absolutely.

Of course, when it comes to things like this....all the goverment has to do is use the guise of "protecting kids/the Country or public health" and people will surrender their rights & freedoms in seconds. I'm tired of that and am glad Google is standing up to them.

[elsid13]

I wonder if the problem here is the way the law is written. To many time the politicians out out a law on the books that based upon emotion rather then logic and reason. Why kiddie porn is one of the most disgusting things I can think of, why aren't family looking after there children? It to easy a to go down a path were information flows are restricted, which put us in the same nature as communist country.

[alkemical]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

I, personally, don't have any material from them to even warrant a EULA. And why would I? It's search engine.

Yes but by using their search engine you are 'using' their software, and with the millenium copy right act that was passed - that's where this comes into play.