March 14, 2006

Geez, if that's all you need, guess it's confirmed you went overkill on the first request, eh? And what a nice spend of taxpayers money to contest this. I can think of better ways to get 5,000 random URLs out of the Google index and 5,000 search requests from other sources.

The judge in the case has said he intends to have some data, though what exactly remains to be determined. A final ruling will come "very soon" or "very quickly," the judge said, according to other accounts below:

• Judge indicates Google must turn over some data, San Jose Mercury News, covering how Google conceded the new request is less burdensome on it plus more on the judge's concern that he wants to ensure no private data is released.
   
• Judge to help feds against Google, News.com, covering Google's warning that it "could face hundreds of university professors [saying] 'I've got a study I'd like you to conduct'."

For background on the case, see these past articles from us:

• Bush Administration Demands Search Data; Google Says No; AOL, MSN & Yahoo Said Yes
   
• Court Documents & Summary Of United States Versus Google Over Search Data
   
• The Day After: Points In The Search Trust Sweepstakes
   
• Privacy Groups, Goverment Officials Comment on Privacy and Web Search
   
• Google's Larry Page Comments on Privacy Matters
   
• MSN Search Blogs On DOJ Request
   
• A Brief Look at Danny's Appearance on Nightline
   
• Full Text Reports from the Congressional Research Service on Internet Privacy, Net Technology, and Protecting Children from "Unsuitable Material"
   
• Protecting Your Search Privacy: A Flowchart To Tracks You Leave Behind
   
• Private Searches Versus Personally Identifiable Searches
   
• Google Not Installing Third Party Cookies -- It's Firefox Prefetching
   
• New Poll Finds Web Users Want Google to Keep Data Private; Full Text Access to Report Also Available
   
• Scoble: Search Champs Talk to MSN VP about Data Turned Over to Feds
   
• Search Data Request Has Searchers Pondering Their Next Query
   
• U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy Asks Attorney General for More Info On Web Search Subpeonas
   
• Google Has Right to Log the Text of Messages Sent Using their Send to SMS Feature
   
• How The US Department Of Justice May Analyze Search Data & Freedom Of Information Act Request For Disclosure
   
• Which Search Engines Log IP Addresses & Cookies -- And Why Care?
   
• Data Privacy Bill Introduced, Not Well Thought Out
   
• Murder Suspect Entwistle's Desktop Search Query to be Used in Court Case
   
• 60% Oppose Search Engines Storing Search Behaviors
   
• Department of Justice Rejects Google's Claims of Privacy Threat
   
• Google Filings Against DOJ Request -- Including Declaration From Matt Cutts
   
• Department of Justice Rejects Google's Claims of Privacy Threat

Postscript: Judge will require Google to turn over some documents from USA Today quotes the US DOJ attorney saying of the much pared down request:

"We could perform the study. The study would be substantially improved if we had the Google data."

In my some of my articles on this mess, I've noted one of the frightening things about the US government's original request was how ignorant it seemed to be of the way search engines operate. It had all the feel of "give us data," not "give us what we need." Now we're told that 5,000 random queries will "substantially" improve a study where other search engines were forced to hand over what seems to be millions of queries? Drop in the bucket, anyone? And more important, it again illustrates how far-reaching -- for no good reason -- the original request was.