Google Refuses To Help Goverment With COPA

[Lee]

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 law was meant to punish online pornography sites that make their content accessible to minors. The government contends it needs the Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for one million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

The Mountain View-based search engine 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.''

``Google is not a party to this lawsuit, and the demand for the information is overreaching,'' Wong said.

The government argues that it needs the information as it prepares to once again defend the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act in a federal court in Pennsylvania. The law was struck down in 2004 because it was too broad and could prevent adults from accessing legal porn sites.

However, the Supreme Court invited the government to either come up with a less drastic version of the law or go to trial to prove that the statute does not violate the First Amendment and is the only viable way to combat child porn.

As a result, government lawyers said in court papers they are developing a defense of the 1998 law based on the argument that it is far more effective than software filters in protecting children from porn. To back that claim, the government has subpoenaed search engines to develop a factual record of how often Web users encounter online porn and how Web searches turn up material they say is ``harmful to minors.''

The government indicated that other, unspecified search engines have agreed to release the information, but not Google.

``The production of those materials would be of significant assistance to the government's preparation of its defense of the constitutionality of this important statute,'' government lawyers wrote, noting that Google is the largest search engine.

Google has the largest share of Web searches with 46 percent, according to November 2005 figures from Nielsen/NetRatings. Yahoo is second with 23 percent, and MSN is third with 11 percent.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/13657303.htm

This is a really interesting story, if Google manages to escape giving the government the data it wants it is going to make it so much harder for them to revive the COPA law.

Also, at the same time, if the government does manage to get its hands on this data, it could actually help the industry because they will know that search engines often offer more porn to children willingly than legitimate porn businesses do.

This is definately going to be something to watch either way imho.

Regards,

Lee

[New Guy]

Well first of all If I had a 8 year old I would not let them online with out me around. And of course people in the porn business don’t target kids, Hell I dont know to many with credit cards. If you give your 13 year old a credit card they are going to have more problems than just porn pics. Hell I saw that under my dads bed at like 6 years old.

As far as Bush, I really hate to say this but at least the war has keep him off of your ass. If it was not the war in Iraq they would have started a war on us or someone else for sure. If I was google I would not do anything the Bush administration wanted, we all just need to hang on a few more years and this nightmare will hopefully be over. If Canada was not so cold I would be out of here if for nothing else just to protest with my $$$ that’s the most American thing I can think of

[gaystoryman]

This will be fun to watch... who has the clout. George or Google?

Did it say that Y & MSN have given the info or just others? Be curious to see if they have or if they haven't, if they'll side with Google on this as it would be in their best interests... and if the Government wins... should be interesting to see what the privacy folks have to say then... man this could spawn a whole new wave of paranoia..

[Lee]

Well first of all If I had a 8 year old I would not let them online with out me around. And of course people in the porn business don’t target kids, Hell I dont know to many with credit cards.

Actually, some of the more unscrupulous webmasters do target children, they register domains of well-known cartoons and put porn on it.

Also, almost any child aged 13yrs or older can get a card that can be used to buy a porn site membership.

As far as Bush, I really hate to say this but at least the war has keep him off of your ass. If it was not the war in Iraq they would have started a war on us or someone else for sure.

Perhaps you are to new to realize that the war in Iraq has done nothing to keep bush away from the war on pornography, in fact, the DOJ has actively gone out and setup an anti-porn task force in the past few months and, are slowly trying to rid the net of porn/obscenity.

Thats neither here nor there though, the big thing here is that the government is trying to get a law that has been struck down so many times in the past because its been deemed unconstitutional re-instated.

Regards,

Lee

[gaystoryman]

What I'd really wish the Government to do is prove why filters are not more valid than their stupid laws.

As for the whole war on Iraq and it keeping the government off the porn industry, sorry (new guy) but where have you been the last 5 years? In hypernation? The attack on porn has only heated up.

[New Guy]

I really don’t get why some webmasters would target kids, but I guess I don’t get allot of things :err: how many sales a year you think that go to kids under 16 or so must be less than .001 percent. If they go pass allot of laws agents the US webmaster they are going to open things up to the overseas ones that will be much more unscrupulous and they will not have any control over at all. Hell I might move out of the US and make some really fucked up shit just to piss them off. :joker:

[New Guy]

What I'd really wish the Government to do is prove why filters are not more valid than their stupid laws.

As for the whole war on Iraq and it keeping the government off the porn industry, sorry (new guy) but where have you been the last 5 years? In hypernation? The attack on porn has only heated up.

I guess I have just been working in my closet :goseek:

[desslock]

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.

Well I would assume that the government can attempt to supoena anything it wants.... my grocery list... the compensation receipts for Exxon's Board of Directors... anything.

Being a publically traded company, I would guess that Google's lawyers are pretty comfortable by taking the position that they have no obligation to give the federal government that information.

Obviously the feds are in a pretty bad position when in order to justify that they meet a burden, they must encroach into the private sector like that. I think this shows once again how important the Ashcroft v. ACLU Supreme Court decision was for us.

Remember the thread on GWW awhile back about pricey Age Verification software systems? This news article shows that the law at this point in time indicates that the right to free speech outweighs the alleged potential harms of minors wandering into adult areas.

In other words, are these software companies just huckstering their wares by capitalizing on unfound fears? Why buy it?

Steve


Steve

[Lee]

This news article shows that the law at this point in time indicates that the right to free speech outweighs the alleged potential harms of minors wandering into adult areas.

Indeed and, i wonder just how much the small defeat with the recent 2257 regulations had to do with the government stepping up the COPA battle again.

It just seems to me like we [the industry] take one step forward and 3 steps back, due to no fault of our own as of late

Regards,

Lee

[New Guy]

With all this legal stuff that I really don’t understand when I finally get my site the way I want it I am going to have to get a lawyer look at it. But I do not know how far I will take it, my site has to be competitive with the majority of others in the market

[Northstar]

Did it say that Y & MSN have given the info or just others? Be curious to see if they have or if they haven't, if they'll side with Google on this as it would be in their best interests...

Yahoo complied with the DOJ order and handed over everything they wanted. Read here: http://www.crn.com/sections/breaking...leId=177102097

Yahoo's stock is already down and with this news I bet it drops more. Who would want to use a search engine that hands over everything to the government? Even if the person has nothing to hide and the government says "trust us we aren't looking at personal information". I think Google standing up to the government on this will end up being a win with there customers.