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Google Defies US Over Search Requests
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The administration wants Google to provide all queries entered on its search engine between June 1 and July 31 of last year.
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SAN
FRANCISCO, January 20, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
Internet search giant Google is vowing to "vigorously" fight
a legal challenge by the Bush administration to reveal details about
online searches, a request privacy advocates warn underscores the
potential for online databases to become tools for government
surveillance.
"We
had lengthy discussions with them to try to resolve this, but were not
able to and we intend to resist their motion vigorously," Google
Associate General Counsel Nicole Wong said in a written statement
cited by Agence France Presse (AFP).
US
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales filed a legal motion on Wednesday,
January 18, in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose demanding Google to
provide all queries entered on the company's Web search system between
June 1 and July 31 of last year.
The
motion also includes a request for the internet search giant to
produce a random sample of one million Web address, known as URLs.
"Google
is not a party to this lawsuit and their demand for information
overreaches," averred Wong.
In
a written release posted on the Internet, search engine Yahoo said it
"complied on a limited basis and did not provide any personally
identifiable information."
Software
titan Microsoft said that it "works closely with law enforcement
officials worldwide to assist them when requested" and its policy
is to comply with the law in a "timely manner."
The
Bush administration argues it needs the data to defend the
constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act in a federal
court in the state of Pennsylvania.
The
US Supreme Court has overturned a 1998 law requiring Web sites to
check the ages of online visitors before granting adults access to
online pornography, saying the law was so broad it could deny adults
legitimate access to such sites.
Privacy
Concerns
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"If Google loses this, what is to stop the US government from making constant requests for all sorts of things," Dixon warned.
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However,
the government subpoena has raised serious privacy concerns.
"The
subpoena is the first shoe dropping that online privacy advocates have
long feared," said Beth Givens, the director of the nonprofit
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, California.
Google
stores user information in a single tracking "cookie" that
could hold a rich load of data about anything from e-mail, online
purchases, addresses, names, searched words, or other terms typed in.
"These
search engines are a very tempting target for government and law
enforcement," Givens added.
"Look
at the millions of people who use search engines without thinking of
the potential to be drawn into a government drag net."
Pam
Dixon of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit, non partisan
organization focused on conducting in-depth research and consumer
education in the intersecting areas of technology and privacy, echoed
similar concerns.
"If
Google loses this, what is to stop the US government from making
constant requests for all sorts of things, such as searches on
terrorism or any company they are investigating," she maintained.
"Google
could become the greatest research tool for the government that anyone
ever envisioned. I certainly don't blame Google for fighting
this."
US
President George Bush has recently admitted authorizing the National
Security Agency (NSA) to spy on US citizens without the necessary
court warrants.
The
New York Times said the NSA has "directly" tapped the
country’s main communications systems without court-approved
warrants.
Senator
Arlen Specter, Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, said Sunday,
January 15, that Bush could face impeachment and criminal prosecution
if found to have violated the law by authorizing the domestic
eavesdropping.
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