Google invades privacy too

By Joshua Goetting

Thursday, February 9, 2006

Since the inception of the USA PATRIOT Act in the wake of 9/11, many people have accused the U.S. government of taking on a Big Brother mentality. Recent revelations about NSA wiretapping have done nothing to put the accusation to rest. It comes as no surprise that the government’s recent requests for Google to turn over information pertaining to Internet searches was immediately decried by many as yet another attempt by President Bush to destroy civil rights and to invade everyone’s privacy.

The only problem with this scenario is that the facts don’t support it.

Firstly, the subpoena served to Google by the government has nothing to do with trying to find enemies of the state. Instead it has to do with the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), according to government statements in a January USA Today article. This act was ruled unenforceable by the Supreme Court because it required all commercial Internet companies to block possible access by children to pornographic Web sites by requiring credit card numbers or other kinds of age verification. Although the act was ruled unenforceable, it was not declared unconstitutional, and it was sent back to a lower court to decide whether parental filters worked as well as what COPA proposed. In order to prove its case that filters were ineffective, the government requested that top search engines submit a random list of Web sites that users searched for and general records of searches in order to try to show that many seemingly innocent searches would turn up pornographic results. In its request, the government didn’t ask for any identifying information, but only what searches had been done in the span of a particular week and with what frequency, according to CNET News.

The ostensible reason for Google’s defiance is that it is fighting for the rights of the little guy. Google’s apparent concerns, however, are somewhat hollow because it is hypocritically saying on the one hand that its rights are being violated by innocuous requests for cooperation made by U.S. authorities while on the other hand it recently concluded a deal in which it is colluding with the government of China, seemingly solely in order to increase its profits by entering the Chinese market.

The real reason for Google’s reluctance to release information, then, seems to be because of certain information that the company doesn’t want to get out. Not only is Google concerned that certain trade secrets could be acquired by the likes of Yahoo and Microsoft if it releases this information, but it is also worried that people might find out about how much Google itself invades everyone’s privacy. For instance, ABC News reported in January that Google not only records and stores every search made by its search engine, but it also stores unique data that can identify the computer that made the search. The Sunday Times of London also reported that it keeps this information indefinitely. Furthermore, the Sunday Herald in Scotland reported that Google searches for key words in all e-mails in its Gmail service so that it can place targeted ads. And for those of you using Google’s toolbar, The Sunday Times of London reported that Google is keeping records of all of our searches in addition to every Web site that you visit.

Everyone should value their privacy and stand up for their rights to keep their personal information confidential, but before anyone believes the cries of outrage that Dick Cheney wants to see your what you’re searching for on the internet, they should first take a long and hard look at what Google does everyday to destroy privacy on the Internet.

Goetting is a Leavenworth senior in political science and East Asian languages and cultures.

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