January 20, 2006 | Sex & Society

Feds subpoena Google porn data

The feds seem to believe in life after death -- for legislation, at least. Hoping to resurrect an online porn law that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has subpoenaed records from Google pertaining to its customers' Internet searching habits.

To support its effort, the Bush administration has asked Google Inc. for, among other things, 1 million random web addresses, as well as a record of all Google searches made within any one-week period, the Associated Press reports. DOJ claims the records will help it prove that a 1998 law requiring formal age verification to access porn is more effective than software in protecting children from porn.

The 1998 Child Online Protection Act would have required adults to register or use access codes in order to access "objectionable" material online. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the law was unconstitutional on grounds of privacy and free speech, arguing that technology such as filtering software would better protect children from exposure to adult material on the Internet.

So far, Google has refused to cooperate with the government's subpoena, which was issued last year in connection with a lawsuit that is currently before a federal court in Pennsylvania.

But while Google has maintained integrity, its competitors have not, according to blogger Mitch Ratcliffe of ZD Net's Rational Rants. He calls Yahoo! and MSN out on their cooperation with DOJ's witchhunt, stating that they lost their customers' trust when they released their search  records to the government.

From its title, you might think the Child Online Protection Act has something to do with fighting child pornography. In fact it does not, but that hasn't stopped the federal government from using this justification in demanding records from search engines.

As Ratcliffe opines, "The Bush Administration, which has subpoenaed the results of randomly selected searches by users of Yahoo!, MSN and Google, is using people’s general distaste for kiddie-porn lovers to convince them the rights of all Internet users should be abridged. That’s wrong."

Translation: Subpoena this, DOJ!

• Feds seek Google records in porn probe [Yahoo! - AP]
• Feds want Googl'es search longs in anti-porn case [YNOT Masters]
• DOJ porn overstepping - stop it now [ZD Net blogs]