Very glad to see Google did the right thing on this one. The government has no claim to corporate info. Infospace sells anonymous data to Wordtracker. ISPs sell it to Hitwise. Yahoo gives some of it away for free. If the governement wants HIGHLY VALUABLE data from the likes of an engine, let them buy it, too. Then of course there's the issue that their request (anonymous search queries) has nothing to do with their objectives (measuring a child's access to porography) . Curious. Way to go, Google.
I honestly don't know, yo-yo. I'm not an USA citizen, so I don't have to deal with that kind of stuff. Here in Quebec, people are mostly sheep. They make a lot of noise but they obey. Google could always give them a week of search from Iraq and 1 million URL from Afghanistan. Bush would love it...
F*CK Yahoo. They should be ashamed of themselves! Thankfully, Google has some balls! Maybe this news will send their stock down to below a dollar and THEN they'll understand.
I actually believe you this time. I'm still pro bush. It feels safer to have him as a big brother then some false-democratic bitch
Nice find. Reading that document makes my head want to explode, and reinforces my belief that lawyers are evil. The person who wrote that is an idiot. EVIL!!!
I am so glad Google is taking a stand here. This administration is getting out-of-control with their invasion into everyone's activities. There are other examples as well. It is fairly disappointing, but not suprising. By the way Google announced their new service: Pornoogle
I don't want to thread steal from the other announcement but I have a specific question I would like to see thoughts on. If I am not mistaken the USA already monitors the assignment of all domain names and as such has a record of every web address ever assigned... That being the case what is the bullshit they are after??? Maybe we should subpoena bushboys head and see how he can continue to live with himself knowing the people he sends to war just to die, are only there to pump up his oil riches. Wake Up America!!!
I actually read through most of the subpoena. Here's what Google's lawyer said: I wrote more about Google's response to the DOJ.
This is very interesting, thanks for the article. This is just another scary turn in Bush's "War on Privacy".
Sharpseo First it is not about porn and kids finding it..there are enough filters available for that currently if they want to instill them and the governments in no hurry to lose the tax revenue from the billions of dollars porn earns every year....LOL thats just the crazy to think a revenue spending machine like the us government would toss away billions of tax dollars. Again the question is why ask for a Random 1,000,000 address of websites when the Government has them?? Random means they are not looking for specific sites that match any type pattern. This has more to do with the Patriot Act than porn, I believe.
I just submitted my post to Digg, if anyone wants to digg me http://digg.com/technology/Why_the_DOJ_Wants_Google_s_Data
If the subpoena was refused, and then the government went to a judge, I'm guessing the original subpoena was not court ordered. Also, it wasn't 'enforceable' by itself. So what law? tom
MSN caved and gave up the request information ... of course, I'm sure that wasn't in exchange for keeping DOJ from filing more anti-trust claims, nor would it be because MSFT and Gates give million$ to GOP candidates. Some say history repeats itself while others believe in reincarnation ... maybe both are true and Hoover and McCarthy have come back? Absolute power corrupts absolutely and that's what we've given our law makers in the last 4+ years - a blank check of power.
Not to get too off-topic, but this entire fiasco seems like a smoke and mirrors game. The proposed Bill (that's supposed to protect children) has no chance of standing up--regardless of "more research"--to future constitutional challenges. The fact is, it's an election year and the current administration's coat tails aren't what they used to be and support for war has begun to wane, so certain elected officials who's job security is in question need something to energize their conservative base with. They over-used the same-sex marriage debate in 04, so for 06 it's going to be "protect the children because our opponents want to protect the evil pornographers". Nothing will really come of it, nothing will change, it's the same old 'watch my left hand as I hide the shiny ball with my right' routine. Kudos to Google for refusing to march as in-step puppets. /rant (let the red reps begin)
Hopefully you sold before today... otherwise you just lost a lot more money. The stock dropped to below 400 today (from 437ish)
I sold it all in the morning in the 430's range and then went short. Covered at $403. I knew yestersday google had made a dissasterous move by not disclosing info and the stock would get punnished.