Google against the US Ministry of Justice

The search engine refuses to provide the American authorities with data on Internet users by Google opposes the attempts of the Bush administration to oblige it to transfer data on the search in the system that is used by millions of people around the world. The Ministry of Justice wants to get information about each request that was made on the site in a week. The authorities assure that this information is necessary in order to argue the adoption of the law on the protection of children on the Web, which was protested in the US Supreme Court. Nevertheless, Google says that the White House puts forward too much requirements: their implementation can disclose the personal data of those who use the company's service, "and does not dare to go to such a Google."

According to organizations engaged in the protection of civil freedoms, the request of the authorities gave rise to the danger that the databases of Internet companies can be captured by the government and used against citizens, regardless of whether they committed a crime or not. The leakage of information about the conflict has also become a reason for the discussion about how much information about users are available to the company's services.

The Bush administration also sent information to the provision of information to Yahoo!, Microsoft and AOL. Yahoo! And AOL reports that they complied with the government’s request, but they say that no data on users were transmitted. Representatives of Microsoft refused to confirm or refute the receipt of such a request, but they said that their official policy was to always satisfy legal requirements. The company regarded the requirements of the government as a “temporary measure that is fully consistent with the applied laws”.

Information about the government’s request appeared this week, when the US Prosecutor General Alberto Gonzalez demanded that the federal judge San Jose (California) oblige Google to execute the instructions of the White House presented by the last summer.

Google, the office of which is located in Maunen-Vew, California, has an enviable database that is interesting not only to marketers, but also to law enforcement agencies.

In addition to information about each request, recruited in the search system for a week (potentially hundreds of millions of requests), the government also asks the company to provide data on the addresses offered to users.

The notification of the government says that it does not require "additional information ... which can identify the one who makes the request." The Ministry of Justice needs these companies to show how easy it is, despite software filters, stumble upon pornography on the network. This information should help the authorities prove the feasibility of the adoption of the 1998 law, the purpose of which is to deal with children's pornography on the Internet.

Yahoo!, The second most popular search engine, justifies its decision to make concessions that did not give the authorities data on users. “This is not a question of an invasion of private life,” the company representative said. AOL said that “did not go to the specific requirements set forth in the authorities,” but “provided a general anonymous list of requests that were made in the search engine within one day.”

However, some experts argue that although the government’s request concerned only the search details, and not the data about those who were engaged in it, it still gives rise to serious fears regarding the inviolability of private life.

Google, whose motto during the appearance on the market in 2004 was "do not do evil," says that "decisively opposes the pressure of the authorities." This business shows how much information about their users is stored by Internet companies. Internet service providers - companies that connect users with a global network have thorough records about which sites each user visited, as well as the addresses, time and date of sending all the letters he sent to him.

The European directive accepted before Christmas obliges providers in order to fight terrorism for two years to maintain this data and provide special services for access to them. Yaman Avenue, head of the British organization Cyber-Rights and Cyber-Liberties (Cyberprave and Cyberswood), said that the new rules "cause anxiety." “I am worried that Google stores so much information, while its users do not suspect this,” says Akdenits, who gives lectures on the right at the University of Lids. - The US government is trying to get this information now. What people are gaining in search engines is their personal business. If you drive into the “neo -Nazis” or “children's porn” line, this does not mean that you are committing a crime. ”

Jim Harper, director of the Kato Institute Information Policy Center, says that "the government is trying to use search services and other enterprises whose business is related to databases as a tracking mechanism."

“This is a very dangerous precedent, and I am very concerned that other search engines went to cooperate,” he believes.

Lawrene Weinstein, an expert in the field of private law on the Internet and one of the founders of the PEOPLE FORITERNET ResponsBILITY, says the request illustrates the danger of possessing such information: “As soon as government organizations will understand what value this information will begin to hunt it. The only way to prevent this is not to create such databases. ”

01/22/2006 / Katerina Elsurt / Los Angeles, David Darbishir / London Material published in the newspaper No. 8 dated 01.23.2006.