Be afraid kids, be afraid. The Bush administration has issued a subpoena to Google for information about searches. Luckily Google is fighting it. America Online, Yahoo and Microsoft rolled over like dogs and all complied with similar requests. Do not use these search engines if you value your freedom and encourage Google to continue their fight.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Right-to-privacy groups said on Friday an attempt by the Bush administration to force Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) to turn over a broad range of materials from its databases set a dangerous precedent that should worry all Americans.
“This is the camel’s nose under the tent for using search engines and all kinds of data aggregators as surveillance tools,” said Jim Harper of the libertarian Cato Institute who also runs Privacilla.org, an Internet privacy database.
The Bush administration is already under fire from a number of rights groups over security measures it has taken since the September 11, 2001 attacks on America, including pursuing checks on library records and eavesdropping on some telephone calls.
In court papers filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, the Justice Department stated that Google had refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for one million random Web addresses from Google’s databases as well as records of all searches entered on Google during any one-week period.