The StuSie

Time to Google a Better Place to Live

Batten down the hatches and lock up your daughters folks, because Uncle Sam is on the prowl. Not content with illegal wiretaps on unsuspecting citizens, now the good ol' U.S. government wants a look at what you're doing online. The Department of Justice has asked Google to hand over a weeks worth of records on what people are searching for, as well as a random sample of a million websites from their databases. Admittedly this would be a ton of information and a nightmare to sort through, but creating a shitstorm and then having to sit it out is sort of our specialty (Iraq anybody?).

Google, thankfully, appears to be resisting the DOJ's efforts acquire this data, but it's going to end up in court. Roberto Gonzales has already filed for a motion to compel to force Google to comply, but Google has said it will fight it out.

The official reason the government says it wants this information is because it's Child Online Protection Act has been blocked by the Supreme Court and to defend it they want info that says tons of people are being bombarded by porn online. They haven't been able to prove it so far, so they're just going to keep on trying and they think Google is the key. The problem with this is that it's a very slippery slope: today it's a random sample they want and tomorrow it's specific information. If this is allowed to happen unchallenged, there's no telling where it will lead. Combined with the aforemetioned wiretapping, I don't know what's more terrifying, the fact that the Bush administration has quietly begun to spy on its own citizens as part of a McCarthyesque "terrorist" witch-hunt, or the fact that nobody seems to care. Make no mistake - Big Brother is watching. I'm anti-bumper-sticker as a rule, but the one that springs to mind right now is:

The ACLU has stepped up and filed suit against the National Security Agency, which will presumably take a break from pretending not to exist to defend against the allegations of unconstitutional activity. The fact that the president himself authorized eavesdropping on Americans means that this problem goes right to the top. Not that any of us were under the impression that Bush wouldn't do such a thing, but I'm skeptical that he knew about this program at all. I find it very hard to believe that Cheney would risk telling G.W. about something so illegal and I'm guessing it was as much of a surprise to him as it was to everyone else. Let's hope the ACLU comes out on top in this one though, because I certainly don't want to find out the hard way at an airport that I'm not allowed to go abroad because I googled communism during class.

Google Refuses To Turn Over Records To Government

Internet search-engine giant Google is refusing to turn over their records to the Justice Department, raising major privacy concerns for Web users. What do you think?

Kevin Gander, Barber
"Man, the government is gonna feel dumb when they see my search for 'the+government+sucks+dick'"

posted by Der Staubsauger @ 11:42