User Search Data Made Public

**Lemur** · 08-07-2006, 16:21

Here in the U.S. Google has certainly tried to keep its data private. And last time I checked, the majority of folks in China who've been turned in for cyber-dissenting have been using Yahoo ...

A federal judge ruled Friday that Google Inc. must reveal only a limited amount of internal data sought by the Bush administration, rejecting the government's demand that the Internet giant turn over thousands of user search queries described by privacy advocates as highly sensitive.

...

Google's tussle with the Justice Department started last year after the government served the company a subpoena seeking internal search data. The Mountain View company quietly ignored the request, prompting the agency to take the matter public in January by asking a judge to decide.

For Google, the decision was welcome news. Nicole Wong, Google's associate general counsel, said, "This is a clear victory for our users. The subpoena has been drastically limited, most importantly the order excludes search queries."

EDIT:

Hey Don, I know that every internet company doing business in China has to play by certain rules. Google has taken plenty of heat for blocking whichever sites the Chinese request. But the only companies that have been shown to be actively collaborating -- so far -- with turning in dissidents have been Yahoo and Microsoft. (Worth noting that Microsft disputes the Chinese account of events.)

I know that companies are in business to make money, but it's the height of cynicism to automatically assume that they're all going to behave as cravenly as possible. Some, clearly, are going to knuckle under more quickly and more completely.

**Don Corleone** · 08-07-2006, 16:48

So Google will give the Chinese government the information most of what it asks for, but actually is willing to fight the US government. Interesting. Wonder where their loyalties lie.

I'm just trying to remind you, friend Lemur, in the world of selling advertising space, the product is the search engine and the marketing spin is that Google is a more conscientious company then it's competitors. While I agree they have a superior product, I think they have no more and no less integrity then any other publicly traded company.

Height of cynicism? Sadly, with each passing day, I'm climbing to that peak more and more.

**Lemur** · 08-07-2006, 17:00

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

So Google will give the Chinese government the information most of what it asks for, but actually is willing to fight the US government. Interesting. Wonder where their loyalties lie.

Actually, noble Don, the evidence is that Google is giving China its blocklist, but not handing over search data. Of course, everything over there is a black hole, so we won't really know for years.

All we know for certain is that two companies have been identified as actively cooperating with handing over dissidents, and neither of them is Google.

**Don Corleone** · 08-07-2006, 17:05

Originally Posted by Lemur

Actually, noble Don, the evidence is that Google is giving China its blocklist, but not handing over search data. Of course, everything over there is a black hole, so we won't really know for years.

All we know for certain is that two companies have been identified as actively cooperating with handing over dissidents, and neither of them is Google.

Nice dodge.

The point I was making that you failed to answer was that Google WILL cooperate with a brutal repressive regime, but won't with it's own democratically elected government. Interesting take on 'do no harm'.

**Lemur** · 08-07-2006, 17:10

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

The point I was making that you failed to answer was that Google WILL cooperate with a brutal repressive regime, but won't with it's own democratically elected government.

Hmm, I don't think I was trying to dodge, just be clear. I usually know when I'm dodging ...

Is it "failure to cooperate" if you refer an issue to a judge? Is the judicial branch now outside of our government?

Is it "cooperation with brital repressive regime" if you comply with the bare minimum of their requests?

I'm not the designated Google spokesperson on the net, just so you know. I just want to be accurate. There's hard evidence that certain companies are going beyond web filtering in China. I'm not sure how much further I'm willing to speculate ...