US Gov wants to get hold of Google records

Well, punch me and call me a penguin, this was bound to happen...

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/13657386.htm

 

Bound to happen with the government always trying to put hands in peoples pockets and stick their eyes in every hole they can.

 

Not just their eyes LOL!

 

Lol, good one XD

 

Its not like they have better things to do right...?

 

It's an election year. Beyond that, they're too damned lazy to do the grunt work themselves to find the information they need.

If the government should be asking Google for anything, it should be their Google Earth images .... they seem to have a better view of things than Uncle Sam - I've no doubt that Google could've confirmed the existence or non-existence of WMD in Iraq in a matter of hours instead of relying of years of useless data

 

Good for Google!

This kind of activity by the gov't is what's called "fishing" (not phishing). The courts have ruled repeatedly that the gov't is not allowed to go rummaging around in private records at will looking for evidence of illegal activity. This is why we have the search warrant system -- the gov't has to prove reasonable cause to support the belief that there is specific information related to specific illegal activity by specific persons, and they have to request access to specific records which they have reasonable cause to believe contains that specific information. They can't just go poking around hoping to find something.

I hope Google continues to stand firm, and I hope they win in the courts.

The feds saying that it's "for the chirruns" does not justify this kind of trashing of the basic rights of Americans.

 

You made some good points sonjay which may me re-read the original article and consider some things your post conjured up.

First, you'll notice that the gov't publically filed papers in court for the information. This tells me two things. First, they probably tried to get a warrant and it was shot down. Second, they're going with a public filing trying to "guilt" Google into letting them fish becausue they're (govt) banking on a public outcry that the big bad Google help Big Brother track this information and these people down.

Just because they're not "hollywood" the government has some very good spin doctors on payroll.

 

From the original article:

I would hope that there would be a bigger outcry about the other search enginges just giving away their info without a fight but what's the chance of that

 

Children usually dont stumble on porn when they arent looking for it or stuff that might link to porn such as other porn I never really get why its such a huge concern that 'children' dont look at porn. If they are under 10 then they shouldnt be on the internet in the first place, but if they are using the internet already I am sure they are mature enough to handle it as they probably saw it on TV, or something along the lines multiply times before and understand what it is. I remember being very aware of what porn is when I was around 7, dont see how that harmed me..

 

wow, nice to see the way google is handling this.

 

Why do they need Google's search query information to find out which sites give porn access to minors? I think it would be easy to find thousands of sites that don't require a credit card or proof of age to see pornographic images. I don't see how a search query database could help find sites that allow minors to access porn.

Google search data for a week is worth $millions$ of dollars, I would think. I wouldn't trust the DOJ with such valuable data. The government doesn't exactly have a spotless track record with secure data.

 

Lol, why don't they just use the DP keyword suggestion tool :0

 

Anyone else seen this? Can't seem to find any threads on it.

us: Google resists pressure on website searches
Google has refused to comply with a US government
subpoena for information about how people use its
search engine, opening one of the first legal battles
over whether law enforcement agencies should have
access to the increasingly far-reaching data held by
search engine companies.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/24e48c1e-8928-11da-94a6-0000779e2340.html

 

Wow, this topic is going to be a lot hotter than I thought at first. Just saw it on the local TV news, and front page of Yahoo and CNN. I'm somewhat surprised the public has so much interest in this story.

I'd really like to see an explanation from the DOJ regarding how they plan to use this data to track down porn sites allowing access to minors.

 

God forbid parents should have to monitor their children's activity and/or take some responsibility for their activities.


-

 

Totaly agree and people with kids that do look this stuff up get WebSense. The best filtering program out there. I used to like Bush but damn he is getting worse. First war, now Google? WTF can't he search himself and tell his staff or what lol.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10925344/page/2/


seems like yahoo and msn caved

 

Being a shareholder I lost a ton of money in the past few days. Still ahead by a lot but this does suck.

I will probably be forced to sell on this news. NEVER fight the gov. Microsoft lerned that the hard way.

Google should have gone along and given the info. Why protect pediphiles? Such a stupid idiotic move on thier part and I can no longer be a shareholder until this and Jan earnings are cleared. Too risky. I invest to make money not lose it all.