Google v. Bush: Not After Personal Records?

by tristero

In comments to an earlier post, Seth wrote that he’s read the documents in the Google versus Bush dispute and that they are not after personal records in this case. As it happens the Times makes the same point today. The article, states, “The government apparently wants to show that real-world searches will pull up offensive materials that filters will not catch” and goes on to say that “Google’s main argument was that its ‘highly proprietary’ trade secrets could be jeopardized.”

I’d like to make the point that I respect this conclusion. I haven’t read the subpoena but I trust their reporting. Both Seth and the Times (I know the reporter) have examined the documents, reported what they found, and stated their conclusion without spin or hyperbole (the Times article has several qualifications but clearly the impression left is that there are no serious privacy issues at stake).

Where we disagree is not on the legal issues in play, but on the potential for abuse of the data by an administration which has demonstrated time and again its obsession with character assasination as well as its desire to amass huge amounts of information while insisting that it operate at an unprecedented level of unaccountable secrecy. Despite assurances that searches cannot ever be linked to individuals, some of us who remember John Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness program, which advocated mining of vast amounts of seemingly random information, can’t help but worry that a week’s worth of Google searches in the hands of the Bush administration is an invitation for heretofore unknown forms of blackmail and abuse of anti-Bush critics.

That kind of worry, of course, is a matter of opinion, it’s an assertion of intent which depends upon the weighing of relevant facts, not upon reporting a set of facts and performing a more straightforward analysis. And honest people can disagree about how much weight should be applied where, and even whether certain facts, such as prior performance, are relevant.

In this case, I’ll gladly, and carefully, read the subpoena if someone will link to it, but I don’t think my concerns about it will abate. Technical details might help convince me that there could never be a problem here – I do know a smattering of statistics and I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to understanding technical issues – but I also know that even an expert’s knowledge might not encompass all scenarios, including very simple ones that are inadvertently overlooked. A few years ago, a record company went to a lot of trouble and expense to copy protect their cd’s against copying them in a computer. I’m sure the documentation that the copy protection was robust was quite convincing. And no one imagined that, soon after the system’s debut in the real world, someone would be able to subvert it using nothing more than a black magic marker. So I’ll keep an open mind about this, which means in this case a highly skeptical one, but not entirely dismissive.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a subpoena for searches will not have anything to do with trolling for dirt on individuals. But sometimes a cigar is more than a cigar. Given Bush’s history, I think that clearly this is one of those cases. I hope Seth is right, however, and I hope I”m overreaching. I’m pretty sure I’m not and only time will tell.

[Update: Seth has kindly provided some links. Some court documents and an analysis can be found here. More analysis here. Seth discusses the subpoenas. While he criticizes what the government is up to, he strongly believes that the blogosphere has entirely mischaracterized these searches as privacy issues when they are not. He speculates that Google may be angling to improve its image and be perceived as a Defender of Freedom.

I’ve read his criticisms and skimmed the court documents, reading carefully the parts having to do with the requests made and their purpose. Nothing causes me to change my opinion that this is unnecessary and potentially ominous. Yes, even to individuals. That other engines may have complied doesn’t mean they were right to, or that Google should. I see no reason why the US government, and especially the Bush administration, should have this information. At the very least, it would set dangerous precedents which all of us know all too well the Bush administration will perceive as a boot in the door to ask for much more. At worst, Google’s trade secrets will be compromised, the Bush administration will have URLs and search queries which could, in some ways, come in handy down the road for nefarious purposes, and personal information will be included as it was when the Bush government requested passenger lists.

Finally, apparently it won’t it serve much of a useful purpose in addressing the stated objectives of the government to defend the COPA law as constitutional.]

{Update: Another interesting link about the legal precedents courtesy Seth.}