R Garfield

Wikinews reports that Google refuses to hand over logs to the U.S. Department of Justice, who requested the search giant turn over the type of searches and the index of pages it had over a week’s time.

The request was made by a group seeking to prove the constituionality – under a new, conservative court – of COPA, previously struck down as being unconstiutional in 1998. Google’s associate counsel Nicole Wong calls the request ‘overreaching.’

I’d call it a fishing expedition. I’ve always thought “‘MSM Spin” was a derogatory, unjustistified term, but this case bears out the use of the terminology. The spin here is that Google is refusing to turn over data relevant to a Child Pornography Law. Although you can make long, tedious arguments for that terminology – it invovles the law, children, and pornography – the image it implies is that somewhere, a child is being used for pornography, and that Google is evil for not allowing Feds access to its data.

This is spin at its worst: an out-and out lie, very directly responsible for a drop in Google’s stock price…

A much better write up than mine is over at Epigonic:

… (T)he essential issue at stake is the government’s attempts to gain information about the information we consume, with the further intent to restrict or regulate the information we consume. That’s a bad thing, plain and simple. 

For your further reading pleasure:

• “Feds seek Google data in child porn case“. CNN.com, January 20, 2006
• “Google defies US over search data“. BBC.com, January 20, 2006
• “Government seeks Google records in pornography investigation“. San Francisco Chronicle, January 19, 2006
• “Feds seek Google records in porn probe“. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 19, 2006
• “EFF applauds Google”. Electronic Frontier Federation, January 19, 2006
• “FAQ: What does the Google subpoena mean?“. CNET News, January 20, 2006