DOJ v. Google: Not About Porn Or Privacy

Google's refusal to turn over a sample of search queries to the Department of Justice has caused a flurry of speculation about privacy issues, the government's right to demand that information, what further information the government would demand, and Google's true reasoning for denying the request. Of course, if you looked at the mainstream media coverage of the event, you might believe the issue revolves around kiddie porn and Google's protection of it. The Bush administration requested a sample of search queries from all four major search engines to add support for its revamping of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), previously stricken down by the Supreme Court for being unconstitutional. COPA is a measure intended to prevent children from viewing or being able to access pornography online-not about child porn. But, as pointed out in a couple of places, and as seen along crawlers at the bottom of televised newscasts, the media spin has this case going in a bad direction from a Google PR standpoint. What was a privacy and protection of industry secret (and some say monetary) issue for Google has now turned into a media circus surrounding Google's supposed hoarding of child pornography information. In fact, it was here.") Drag this to your Bookmarks. Add to document.write("Del.icio.us") | Yahoo My Web