Feds After Google Data

From MercuryNews.com:

The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order
Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded
databases.The move is part of a government effort to revive an Internet child protection law struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court....

...The Mountain View-based search and advertising giant opposes
releasing the information on a variety of grounds, saying it would
violate the privacy rights of its users and reveal company trade
secrets, according to court documents.

Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google, said the company will fight the government's effort ``vigorously.'' ...

First, I believe in the US Government's (or any other government in this matter) cause of protecting children from the darkest (and filthiest) corners of the internet. I will not pretend though that I have the slightest idea of how they plan to do it. But oh please, to the American government, why the hell don't you just do your own work of researching on the matter instead of taking the easy route of violating people's privacy and liberty online? For those of us who believe in the idea of network computing, this is a very critical issue that we should be watching. How safe and private are our data (gmail, google searches, private flickr pics, etc.) in the hands of Google and the other web companies? How strong can they stand against things like this -- blatant attempt to intrude into our online private life? Kudos to you Google, for standing against big brother.

Bush, magsama kayo ng bestfriend mo...