Google Defies Bush Data Demand; Yahoo and Microsoft Have Already Sold You Out

Google says no to data demand
Government wants records of searches
- Verne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 20, 2006

Watch what you search for on the Internet. It could come back to haunt you.

That point was hammered home in recent court filings by the federal government demanding that the Internet's major search engines turn over vast amounts of data about what people have searched for.

Mountain View's Google, the industry leader, has promised to fight the order, which is part of the Bush administration's effort to resuscitate laws protecting children from Internet pornography, blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago.

Yahoo and Microsoft have complied with the request, turning over millions of search queries to the government, although both firms insist they did not violate their users' privacy.

The government's request and Google's subsequent refusal set up a potential court battle that could have major privacy implications for Internet users and also could help define how online companies protect their customers in future inquiries.

If the government prevails against Google, privacy advocates fear that the floodgates will open to even more demands for search data. Ultimately, they say, the snooping would have a chilling effect on how people use the Internet.

"If the government wins, it will continue pushing for more information from Google, and so will private parties," said Kurt Opsahl, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that advocates online privacy. "People could be deterred from seeking out information that that they need because of the fear of Big Brother looking over their shoulder."

In papers filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, the Department of Justice said Google had failed to comply with a subpoena issued last year for a sample of 1 million Web addresses in the company's index. In addition, the government wanted a list of all search terms entered by Google's users over a one-week period.

Google argues that the demand is overly broad, costly and could reveal trade secrets. Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google, added in a statement that after lengthy discussions with the Justice Department to resolve the issue, "we intend to resist their motion vigorously."

Privacy advocates long have suspected that search records would become a target of legal interest, as e-mails already are and music downloading histories have become. However, this is the first time privacy advocates remember that anyone has requested search data for a legal proceeding.

Companies behind search engines retain vast amounts of information, including records of user queries and numeric IP address of computers from which the queries were submitted. With a little leg work and legal authority, attorneys often can trace the queries to specific individuals.

Government reassurances

In its filings this week, the government -- bowing to privacy concerns -- emphasized that it was seeking data stripped of any information identifying the people who entered the queries. Privacy advocates were concerned nonetheless.

They said searches of full names or addresses would show up in the data. What if, they asked, the queries also included a sensitive term such as "Nazi sympathizer," "homosexual" or "terrorist"?

"I certainly imagine some searches, even if divorced from a person's identity, could easily reveal confidential information that is not clear that the D.O.J. should have access to," said John Morris, staff counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington, D.C., public policy group.

In just a few years, search engines have blossomed into almost a necessity for some people. Few people think twice about using them to track down information of all kinds. Google, in particular, has ridden the wave to become the dominant force in the industry, owning nearly 40 percent of the U.S. market.

In its court filings, the government said it had sent subpoenas similar to Google's to other search companies, which had no problem providing the requested data. In response to a reporter's question, Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Yahoo Inc., in Sunnyvale, said her firm was among them.

"We complied on a limited basis and did not provide any personally identifiable information," she said, declining to offer more details.

Microsoft's MSN Web portal said it had complied with the government's request but also said it had withheld personal information. Ask Jeeves, in Oakland, said it did not receive a subpoena.

The Bush administration hopes to use the search engine data it collects to defend the Child Online Protection Act in a Pennsylvania federal court. The law, intended to protect children from being exposed to sexually explicit Internet material, was blocked by the Supreme Court from being enforced on grounds that it was too broad and violated freedom of expression.

In its filing, the government asserted that the search information will help it establish that the law is "more effective than filtering software in protecting minors from exposure to harmful materials on the Internet." Because Google is the most popular search engine, its data would be valuable for producing an overall sample of search queries, the government said.

How much information?

As part of their privacy policies, virtually all search engines tell users that search histories will be turned over to law enforcement as required. However, privacy advocates noted that few people actually read the policies and are therefore unaware that their queries could be scrutinized.

David Holtzman, author of an upcoming book about privacy and onetime chief technology officer of Network Solutions, a domain name registry, recommended that search engines rethink how much user information they retain to avoid situations such as the one Google and others are in now.

On the other hand, companies often boast of the data they collect, which they call particularly useful in providing customized search results for users and targeted advertising.

"If you don't have the information, nobody can subpoena it," Holtzman said.