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Preparing to defend a controversial Internet pornography law in court, the Justice Department has demanded search logs from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and America Online. The department asked the search giants to hand over millions of records involving what search terms people have used on the sites and what Web sites are accessible via the search engines. On one level, the situation involves a straightforward question of whether the department's demands are too onerous and therefore not permitted under federal law. On another, the dispute raises novel questions about search engines' privacy protections and the relationship that four tech giants have with the federal government
In court papers that the San Jose Mercury News reported on after seeing them Wednesday, the Bush administration depicts the information as vital in its effort to restore online child protection laws that have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Google has formally rejected a demand from the US government to hand over a week's worth of search records. The rejection was made in court documents Google filed in response to official demands for search data. In the strongly-worded papers Google said the request would violate the privacy of its users and reveal trade secrets to its rivals. It also added that handing over the data was impractical and would not accomplish what the government wantedThe documents go on to say: "Google users trust that when they enter a search query into a Google search box ... that Google will keep private whatever information users communicate absent a compelling reason." The American Civil Liberties Union also filed court documents supporting Google's stance.
Concerns by Google Inc. that a Bush administration demand to examine millions of its users' Internet search requests would violate privacy rights are unwarranted, the Justice Department said in a court filing.The 18-page brief filed Friday argues that because the information provided would not identify or be traceable to specific users, privacy rights would not be violated.The brief was the Justice Department's reply to strident arguments filed by Google last week as a rebuff the government's demand to review its search requests during a random week.The department believes the information will help revive an online child protection law that has been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court. By showing the wide variety of Web sites that people find through search engines, the government hopes to prove Internet filters are not strong enough to prevent children from viewing pornography and other inappropriate material online.
By showing the wide variety of Web sites that people find through search engines, the government hopes to prove Internet filters are not strong enough to prevent children from viewing pornography and other inappropriate material online.
In court documents submitted Thursday to U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif., federal prosecutors said they need a prompt response because of the compressed schedule of the case. They're asking Ware to set a 21-day deadline that would begin as soon as he makes a decision. "Delay in this court's resolution of the motion to compel would be unwarranted," the three-page brief says. In January, the Justice Department asked a judge to force Google to hand over a "random sample of 1 million" Web pages from its index, and copies of a week's worth of search terms, to aid in the Bush administration's defense of an Internet pornography law. That information is supposed to be used to highlight flaws in Web-filtering technology during a trial in Philadelphia this fall. The Justice Department subpoena normally would have been a routine matter, and America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo voluntarily complied with similar requests. But Google's resistance sparked a furor over privacy, with Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, asking the Justice Department for details, and a bill announced in the House of Representatives that would require Web sites to delete information about visitors.
In a move that alleviates some privacy concerns, a federal judge granted part of a Justice Department request for Google search data but said users' search queries were off-limits. JUdge Ware said in his Friday order that the government demonstrated a "substantial need" for Google's random URL sample, which it plans to run through filtering software to test the software's antipornography filtering prowess as the DOJ prepares to defend a child-protection law in court. But the DOJ did not meet that standard regarding search queries, Ware said.He noted that 50,000 URLs must be turned over, unless both parties agree to an alternative scenario on or before April 3.
