January 25, 2006 | Sex & Society

Google stands firm

AOL caved. So did Yahoo! Even MSN gave in. But not Google. Its decision to deny a government request for Internet search records last week says a lot. Whether it speaks to the company's good nature, however, or its hidden motives, has yet to be determined.

If you ask the folks at Forbes.com, they'll tell you it's the latter. In an article posted Tuesday, writers Chris Kraeuter and Rachel Rosmarin suggest that Google is holding out against a government subpoena not because it wants to protect its customers' privacy, but because it wants to protect itself. In fact, Google has expressed concern that making its data public would expose many of its closely-guarded trade secrets. More likely, Forbes offers, Google wants to protect the Internet's reputation and integrity.

"A public disclosure of exactly how much pornography is on the Internet and how often people look for it -- the two data points that will result from fulfilling the government's subpoena -- could serve to make the Internet look bad," write Kraeuter and Rosmarin. "And Google, as its leading search engine, could look the worst."

Still, it's possible that Google truly is concerned about privacy -- and we hope that they are. After all, the Child Online Protection Act, which the Department of Justice hopes to resurrect with the help of its subpoenaed records, has already been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds of privacy. That's because the law, as CNET News points out, does not concern child pornography, as its name suggests, but rather the restriction of content that might be deemed "harmful" to minors, should they happen to discover it.

A better solution than censorship might be more active marketing and deployment of web filtering software, which both the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the Consumers Union agree are effective, according to CNET News, and which Google might very well support over restricting speech.

Apparently, however, the Bush Administration disagrees. The First Amendment? Just another name for "toilet paper" at the White House!

• Why Google won't give in [Forbes]
• FAQ: What does the Google subpoena mean? [CNET]
• Do Web filters protect your child? [CNET]