In the battle of two heavyweights, it’s the Bush administration vs. Google. What’s at stake? The government’s ability to peek at search results. So far, Google’s winning.
The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to compel Google, the Internet search giant, to turn over records on millions of its users’ search queries as part of the government’s effort to uphold an online pornography law.
Google has been refusing the request since a subpoena was first issued last August, even as three of its competitors agreed to provide information, according to court documents made public this week. Google asserts that the request is unnecessary, overly broad, would be onerous to comply with, would jeopardize its trade secrets and could expose identifying information about its users.
It’s come to this. Government-monitored phone calls, emails, snail mail, library records, and medical records … that’s all routine. But Google?
To be fair, I realize that the government’s request is for a week of search queries and a random list of a million web addresses in its index, not the personal searches of specific individuals.
Nevertheless, to its enormous credit, Google is resisting on principle and has drawn a line on privacy rights.
While its court filings against the Justice Department subpoena have emphasized the burden of compliance and threat to its trade secrets, Google also pointed to a chilling effect on its customers.
“Google’s acceding to the request would suggest that it is willing to reveal information about those who use its services,” it said in an October letter to the Justice Department. “This is not a perception Google can accept. And one can envision scenarios where queries alone could reveal identifying information about a specific Google user, which is another outcome that Google cannot accept.”
And there’s also the slippery slope. “This is the government’s nose under the search engine’s tent. Once we cross this line it will be very difficult to turn back,” said Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a District-based nonprofit group that advocates privacy protections. “If companies like Google respond to this kind of subpoena . . . I don’t see why the next subpoena might not say, ‘Give us what we asked for the last time — plus a little more.'”
Google has vowed to resist the subpoena “vigorously.” Stay tuned.