p2p news / p2pnet: Google and the US government take their corners, tomorrow, over whether or not the latter can compel the former to turn over data, including about a million web addresses.

"The case is viewed by many experts as a test of how vulnerable the voracious search habits of the nation’s Web users might be to the prying eyes of government," says the San Jose Mercury News.

Acting for the Dick Cheney / George W. Bush administration, US attorney general Alberto Gonzales subpoenaed Google to force it to release the web addresses, and at least one week’s worth of random search queries. Google refused, as much because of likely negative business repercussions as for genuine concern for user privacy.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) are currently suing Bush and the National Security Agency in a bid to stop them from secretly spying on US citizens.

A recent DoJ document said Google’s objections were unwarranted.

Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL have already handed over information.

"The government is seeking the information to buttress its defense of the Child Online Protection Act, a federal law designed to keep children from sexually explicit content on the Internet," says the story.

Gonzales was borrowing a page from the entertainment industry’s book which routinely uses the Kiddie Porn ploy to force through legislation.

Google, meanwhile, "backed by privacy advocates, is resisting the subpoena on a variety of grounds, including the argument that it threatens the privacy rights of Web users and exposes the company’s trade secrets to public release," says the San Jose Mercury News.

"The company also insists the information is irrelevant to the government’s fight to revive the federal child protection law, which was put on hold by the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago."

However, "Despite the fact that the case has raised concerns about government intrusion into Web habits, legal experts say [US district judge James] Ware may steer clear of that issue and decide the case on much narrower grounds, such as whether the government can justify its subpoena," says the story, adding:

"Nevertheless, the case is considered a crucial barometer of how much control a search engine has over its vault of Web traffic and whether the Internet habits of its users are insulated by a 20-year-old electronic privacy law."

"This case comes at a time when people are starting to recognize that the information they put into their computers creates a record,” the story has Lauren Gelman, associate director of Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society, saying. "In the bigger picture, as people input more information into computers, they are losing control over that. We’re leaving a digital footprint with all sorts of information about ourselves.”

Google’s Desktop 3 tool, which allows searches across multiple computers and which as part of the process, automatically holds copies of files on Google servers for up to 30 days, has been attacked because of security problems.

The company is also apparently both thinking about organizing its own internet, and accessing literally everything on users’ computers by, in effect, becoming their virtual hard-drives.

Also See:
San Jose Mercury News – Google, U.S. to face off in federal court, March 13, 2006
secretly spying – Bush sued by ACLU, CCR, January 18, 2006
unwarranted – DoJ answers Google, February 27, 2006
handed over – Google rejects Bush demand, January 20, 2006
security problems – Google Desktop 3 is unsecure, February 21, 2006
|own internet – Google wants its very own Net, February 3, 2006
virtual hard-drives – Google as your PC, March 7, 2006

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