Google will fight feds ‘vigorously’ over search subpoena |
Loading ...I’m glad to hear that Google will fight the government’s efforts to subpoena information related to their battle to crack down on porn under the guise of the protecting children on the internet.
The government contends it needs the Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches. In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for one million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.
The government doesn’t need Google’s data to go after child porn (KP) sites. They can work even more closely with groups like ASACP (Adult Sites Against Child Pornography) which I did the Blogathon for here a couple years ago. They can add more staff to follow up on these reports and work to shut down these illegal sites.
They could also get a Google API key and run their own searches on various child-related keywords and see what’s returned. They could also get the entire five billion websites dump from Alexa and go hogwild.
There are plenty of ways to identify and get rid of these lowlife scum KP sites but using children as an excuse to go after legitimate adult websites is — just as the courts have already confirmed — too wide reaching. Don’t tell adults what they can and can’t look at, as long as the willing participants are adults.
Just in case I haven’t said this enough in this piece, I’m all for the feds cracking down on KP, just don’t try and take away the adults ability to find and enjoy movies like Pirates.
Google has my support 1000% on this one.
Related Posts- Supreme Court votes 5-4 against Child Online Protection Act (COPA)
- The Child Protection Act is a cover story
- DOJ continues using KP as cover story
- Adult websites won’t go quietly into the night
- Pakistan is not down for porn websites
- B31: Welcome GFY webmasters
Google vs. government - caving inevitable
So, it seems Google’s fighting the feds over a subpoena for a pretty large chunk of search history - all the searches done in any one given week. This is probably the most positive PR move Google’s done in a while, judging from the early commentary….
Trackback by Greg Yardley's Internet Blog — January 19, 2006 @ 9:07 am PST
I imagine a complete log of every search term that was typed into Google for a full week whould fetch quite a nice price on the open market. I’m thinking in terms of millions of dollars.
It could be used for a lot of different things, once you had it.
It would probaby have about 50 search times I typed in. It would have a similar level of detail on every other Google user on the planet.
Comment by BC — January 19, 2006 @ 11:26 am PST
[…] MakeYouGoHmm… puts the Department of Justice’s request perfectly, showing how this is nothing more than a power grab to turn Google into a data repository for federal prosecutors. The government doesn’t need Google’s data to go after child porn (KP) sites. They can work even more closely with groups like ASACP (Adult Sites Against Child Pornography) which I did the Blogathon for here a couple years ago. They can add more staff to follow up on these reports and work to shut down the se illegal sites. […]
Pingback by » HMM Shows DOJ Request For Sham It Is » InsideGoogle » part of the Blog News Channel — January 19, 2006 @ 2:48 pm PST
[…] it sounds kind of like a funny way to let off steam at first, but i think there are glimmers of real meaning underneath some of the information. it interests me to learn, for example, that google scores 4% evil when it comes to this blog post, which states that google will fight the feds’ request for search data tooth and nail; 12% evil when it comes to an earlier post saying that google won’t comply (with the same request - it’s hot news in searchtown today, i tell you whut) but msn will (so how evil are they?) , and 34% evil when it comes to a newspaper article discussing yesterday’s announcement that google is venturing into radio (or at least radio ads). […]
Pingback by The K-log » evil or not, here we um…. — January 19, 2006 @ 4:44 pm PST
> The government doesn’t need Google’s
> data to go after child porn (KP) sites.
Nor did they ever said they want to in this controversy. This controversy is not about child porn, it is (if anything) about children looking at porn, which are two very different things. Refer to the Child Online Protection Act at http://www.epic.org/free_speech/censorship/copa.html , which is is about restricting a child’s access to web content that may be harmful to the child.
More at http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-01-19-n45.html
Comment by Philipp Lenssen — January 19, 2006 @ 5:02 pm PST
Phillip - I’m familiar with the act (that failed to gain acceptance because it was too broad). I’ve worked with several different adult companies over the years (go read my bio sometime that is linked on the homepage of this blog) and some of them have sponsored my weekly radio show for years. There is no confusion in what the Bush Administration is really up to here. What the act says and what the intentions are being pursued are two very different things.
Instead of taking my word for it or using the text of the act so literally, talk to some adult webmasters and get their impression on what is really happening here. I think you will find — as I already know — a much different story.
The government would like to see all adult content go away. They would prefer to broadly extend the obscenity statutes which was one of their key threats with Ashcroft. This is a much broader issue that reaches far beyond what most mainstream press will report on because taking the side of the adult webmasters isn’t popular opinion.
The problem is the courts haven’t let them sweep with a wide brush.
As for my quote above, I’m pointing out a very different and yet related problem. The feds can’t track down and prosecute the KP in the numbers that exist now. They complain about existing manpower. How will they be able to crack down on non illegal adult content if they can’t even fully prosecute the illegal stuff?
This is a much, much broader issue and very few mainstream publications will tell all sides of what is going on here. Ask around in the right sectors and see what you learn
Comment by TDavid — January 19, 2006 @ 6:53 pm PST
Your post puts the current issue in a context of the government fighting child porn (”The government doesn’t need Google’s data to go after child porn (KP) sites”). But that is not the case. In your followup you say the government may only pretend to aim to protect the children, when it actually wants to fight all adult sites. I am well aware of this side to it, too, but I still don’t understand what that has to do with child porn specifically. Certainly, the adult webmasters you were talking to would also be against child porn.
Comment by Philipp Lenssen — January 19, 2006 @ 7:23 pm PST
Phillip - yes, legitimate adult webmasters *are* against KP. Very much so. What you wrote about and pretty much any time the issue comes up the KP stuff is thrown out as the card to play to incite and anger people. Every reasonable person can get behind that, including adult webmasters.
The child online act will do absolutely zero to protect children from accessing porn or becoming prey to some sick individual. Filtering doesn’t work and hasn’t. The xxx domain idea was a bust.
The only way for child to truly be protected online is to have parental influence. That is where it starts and where it stops.
And finally I believe the opening sentence says exactly where I’m coming from on this: “I’m glad to hear that Google will fight the government’s efforts to subpoena information related to their battle to crack down on porn under the guise of the protecting children on the internet.”
Those who believe this child online protection act is truly about the children are sadly mistaken. This is about the US Government trying to expand their powers into the privacy of adult’s homes and trying to piggyback on the children to do it.
And thank goodness Google is saying no to give up their proprietary search data to get to the information. If the government really wants to protect the children, as I said in the original post, there are numerous ways to go about this right now that they aren’t able to do.
Clean up the illegal stuff before worrying about the legal stuff. *That* is what this all has to do with KP. Make sense?
Again, I urge you to contact some established adult webamsters, show them this story and see what they have to say. I believe you will see this in a much different light.
Comment by TDavid — January 19, 2006 @ 7:52 pm PST
> The only way for child to truly be protected
> online is to have parental influence. That
> is where it starts and where it stops.
Amen to that. I absolutely agree.
And I agree child porn is often that government foot in the door to the “no privacy/ censorship/ government control” room. KP is so disgusting that it would blind some people to hear what’s happening. Someone could say, “Because we must fight child porn we must also double the taxes.” And when someone replies “But is it really necessary to double the taxes?”, the counter-argument is: “What, are you PRO child porn?!” Dang, this is the oldest trick in the book, and I’m sure every government in the world knows it…
Comment by Philipp Lenssen — January 19, 2006 @ 7:58 pm PST
[…] What bothers me most about the MSN response to this whole DOJ situation was brought up by one of the anon’s in their post (lots of anons in that post, curiously enough). Why didn’t MSN disclose this sooner? This happened last summer and they didn’t feel that people using their search service would care that the government wanted this information? […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » MSN responded and complied with DOJ request … last summer! — January 21, 2006 @ 10:45 am PST
[…] Maybe my brief write-up earlier this week on the DOJ / Google conflict wasn’t fully explained, but I understood exactly what the government is up to with their continued assault on porn in the guise of it being to protect chilren. This might seem a bit conspiracy theorist but I don’t believe for a second their principle interest is keeping chilren away from accessing adult material. That’s the cover story. Phillip Lenssen takes exception to the various news reports being twisted into this being about kiddy porn (KP), but the reality is a high percentage of porn-related stories — just watch Google news, Phillip — have some sort of KP reference in them. There is a huge difference between children accessing porn and KP, but I’ve seen this happen many, many times before. […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » The Child Protection Act is a cover story — January 21, 2006 @ 2:13 pm PST
Remember the old saying…”What if they delared a war and no one came ?”
Well, the modern version might be something like…”What if they declared a privacy invasion and EVERYBODY came ?
Suppose…just suppose…that all the millions of people who have nothing to hide went to Google and searched (repeatedly)for…say… “George Bush is a Constitution-Hating Fascist” or “George Bush is clueless about Freedom of…ANYTHING.”
What value would there be to obtaining the results if they were so polluted with normal (but irritated) law-abiding citizens? By the time the NSA compiles, prioritizes, and starts investigating such a lengthy list of suspects, many of their suspects will be retired, moved away, or dead of old age…making the list essentially worthless.
We talk a lot in this country about voting. Mostly its just luck if we happen to get someone in office who actually cares enough about the country to live up to their promises after they are securely into their office. But mass searching Google would be a vote of another kind…a vote to say that is not the kind of country I want and I’m not going to keep silent. A subtle version of “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore.”
…Or, you could just hope for the best and look surprised when you wake up and find the world has become just like George Orwell’s 1984.
As for me…I gotta go…I’ve got some search records to create.
Comment by David Rittenhouse — January 25, 2006 @ 8:40 am PST
[…] This is a titanic struggle between the forces of good and evil (you assign whomever you like to each party). Google is resisting the governments inclination to use the search engine data as an extension of it’s own power structure. […]
Pingback by Doodle’n » Google - Idiot Savant — January 25, 2006 @ 11:11 pm PST