Posted 1/19/2006 05:37:00 PM by Douglas

Now that Big-Brother can tap your phone anytime they please, it's time for them to stick their nose into whatever it is you're googling as well.

Mountain View-based Google has refused to comply with a White House subpoena first issued last summer, prompting U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week to ask a federal judge in San Jose for an order to force a handover of the requested records.

The government wants a list all requests entered into Google's search engine during an unspecified single week — a breakdown that could conceivably span tens of millions of queries. In addition, it seeks 1 million randomly selected Web addresses from various Google databases.

Really. And just what are they looking for?

In a separate case in Pennsylvania, the Bush administration is trying to prove that Internet filters don't do an adequate job of preventing children from accessing online pornography and other objectionable destinations.

Obtaining the subpoenaed information from Google "would assist the government in its efforts to understand the behavior of current Web users, (and) to estimate how often Web users encounter harmful-to-minors material in the course of their searches," the Justice Department wrote in a brief filed Wednesday.

"Won't someone please think of the children!" We need to invade everyone's privacy because we don't know how kids are getting porn on the internet. I think it used to be an exaggeration, but the government really is that stupid.