EFF grills DoJ over Google contact
p2pnet news | Freedom:- The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is suing the Department of Justice, demanding information about communications between the DoJ’s former top privacy official and Google, the official’s current employer.
"Jane C. Horvath was named the DOJ’s first Chief Privacy and Civil Liberties Officer in February of 2006," says the EFF, goiing on:
"At that time, Google was fighting a massive DOJ subpoena asking for the text of every query entered into the search engine over a one-week period. The DOJ request – part of a court battle over the constitutionality of a law regulating adult materials on the Internet – ignited a national debate about Internet privacy.
"The DOJ later scaled back its request, and a judge eventually allowed access to only 5000 random Google search queries. In a subsequent news article, Horvath was publicly critical of the DOJ’s initial subpoena, saying she had privacy concerns about the massive request for information. Horvath’s new job as Google’s Senior Privacy Counsel was announced in August of 2007."
The EFF says it filed with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request as Horvath prepared to leave the agency, "but the DOJ has not responded to the request more than six months after it was submitted".
"We want to know what discussions DOJ’s top privacy lawyer had with Google before leaving her government position to join the company," says the foundation’s David Sobel.
The EFF suit demands records of all correspondence, email, or other communications between Horvath and Google, and asks the court to order the DoJ to immediately process the documents for release.
What does the EFF expect to find?
It doesn’t appear to know.
Network World says it, "asked for clarification from Sobel," who responded:
"We’re not after anything in particular, just a window into the relationship between these two powerful entities vis-à-vis privacy issues."
Also See:
EFF – EFF Lawsuit Demands Records of Contacts Between Former Justice Department Official and Google, February 26, 2008
Network World – EFF being stymied in effort to explore Justice Department/Google coziness, February 27, 2008
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