Why Google Should Oppose The US Justice Department

As you may all have heard by now, the United States Justice Department has issued subpeonas to various search engines, including Google, to release information on their users’ search patterns. To date, Yahoo, MSN and AOL have complied with this request. Google has issued a firm “No” and is preparing for a legal fight in the US Courts to stop the Justice Department from accessing their databases.

The reason the US Justice Departments wants these records is so that it can then substantiate to a US Judge, that the Child Online Protection Act should be allowed to be enacted. This Act, first raised I believe, back in 1998, was defeated in the courts, however the US Justice Department continues its efforts to provide “evidence” that it is required to “protect minors from offensive content”.

Now the question is this. Even if Google complies with the US Justice Department, and provides them with one million search items for a specified time period, what will that achieve? Will it show that under 18 year olds searched the word “porn” and “sex”? No. Will it provide them with anything that is not already publicly available? No.

So what’s the point?

Deep down, I think the motives of the US Justice Department go beyond the gathering of supporting evidence for the US Government to try and get the Child Online Protection Act passed as law. All search engines and most web sites gather information on their users to enable them to fine-tune their services to the individuals’ use.

The search engines, and Google inparticular, have vast amounts of information on their servers which todate, have been used specifically by the search engines. If the US Justice Department succeeds in convincing the search engines in initially providing the URLs they are asking for, it will then open a precedent for future requests. It is this that Google foresees happening, and thus their blatant “No”. Today, it is simply a million search items and URLs. No personal details, no other information, just this.

However, lets assume that Google buckles and provides the details to the US Justice Department. What next?

Let’s assume that the information obtained by the US Justice Department shows that 10% of all searches related to porn with phrases like “twink sex”, “girl sex” and “boy sex”, amongst others. I can then see two things happening. Firstly the US Justice Department will pursue the attempt to make the Child Online Protection Act into law.

Secondly, and more importantly, I can see them then turning around to the search engines and saying “Ok. These URLs relate to child pornography. We want details of who conducted these searches”.

If Google does buckle under or loses their court case against them, the US Justice Department will have a precedent to request this information. If Google looses via a court case, then a legal precedent is established, and then the US Justice Department will have an “open ended” authority to request and obtain additional information.

For this reason and this reason alone, Google is opposing the subpoenas. The other reasons like “revealing Google’s trade secrets” etc are extra reasons which any company should protect. The fact that it is not an investigation into Google itself, but rather a fishing expedition by the US Justice Department on online pornography [and other related “child offensive” content], is an extra reason.

Personally I hope that Google sticks to its gun, continues to say “No” to the US Justice Department, and wins its case in court. By winning it will not only say to the government “hands off on our customers”, but also maintain that faith that so many of us have in Google that our private details remain just that - private.

James

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