Google Scores Privacy Victory
Google, the lone search firm to protest a Department of Justice request for massive amounts of data, won a partial victory on Friday. U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose, CA, ruled that Google did not have to provide search queries to DOJ, which is attempting to defend the 1998 Child Online Protection Act [COPA].
DOJ had originally asked for as many as 1 million web addresses from Google's cache. Google will provide 50,000 addresses -- in a random selection -- and the DOJ will examine 20 percent. Google will provide no search queries; the government had asked for 5,000. Google's attorney said, "We believe that if the government was permitted to require Google to hand over search queries, that could have undermined confidence that our users have in our ability to keep their information private."
Ironically, last month members of Congress attacked Google and other technology companies for cooperating with foreign governments (specifically, China) in limiting citizen access to the Internet.
A small victory for consumer privacy.
Source:
http://uspolitics.about.com/b/a/207648.htm