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Google Reluctant to Divulge Search Records to the US Government

January 19, 2006

Google Inc. is in no way ready to divulge the records of its millions of users who have been searching something or the other on the Google. The request of the Government underscores the potential of online databases to become tools of the government.

The government says it needs those Google usage records to prepare its defense in a lawsuit brought against it by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). But Google is resisting. The US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales has filed a petition in the Northern District court of Carolina to compel Google to handover the search records of the millions of people who rely on the search engine giant for their searches. In addition to all this it seeks 1 million randomly selected Web addresses from various Google databases. The ACLU lawsuit, filed in 1998, challenges the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) law, which aims to protect minors from the effects of exposure to sexually explicit material on the Internet.

Now the government is preparing its defense of COPA's constitutionality, and is specifically trying to buttress its contention that the law is more effective than filtering software in protecting minors from pornographic material on the Internet, according to the motion. As a result, the government has issued subpoenas to Google and other search engines requesting information to make its case. But Google has refused to comply with the two requests. "The production of those materials would be of significant assistance to the Government's preparation of its defense of the constitutionality of this important statute," the motion filed reads. This information would help the government understand how often Web users encounter material considered "harmful to minors" as a result of using a search engine, and to determine how effective filtering software is, according to the motion.

Google is refusing to comply with the subpoena saying that it cannot barge into the privacy of its users.

Source: InfoWorld