Declan McCullagh has a good, very short post that includes several useful links to more about the Justice Department subpoena of Google search records and why it is a privacy issue that should concern us.
Perhaps visits to a search engine can be thought of as somewhat akin to thumbing through a dictionary, or an encyclopedia, or a phone book. You’d want privacy in those cases, especially when doing financial or medical research.
But because the Supreme Court has said you don’t have privacy when your records are held by others, the virtual equivalent of thumbing-through information is available to curious prosecutors or divorce attorneys. Thanks a lot, Supremes…
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