Google rips Bush administration’s search request
`Google called the Bush administration’s request for data on Web searches as “so uninformed as to be nonsensical” in papers filed in San Jose federal court Friday, arguing that turning over the information would expose its trade secrets and violate the privacy of its users.
The 21-page brief filed by the Mountain View search giant angrily dissected the government’s claim that the search results would produce useful evidence regarding child pornography. [..]
Google’s struggle with the Justice Department has focused worldwide attention on the risk that Internet technologies will be used by governments for surveillance purposes — and that the privacy of users could be compromised without their ever knowing it.
In justification of its demand of data from Google, the Justice Department revealed that it had requested — and received — similar data from Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL.’
