Google not caving to admin's porn snoops

Regulars here know that I whack Bush when he deserves it: signing the campaign finance bill, spending like a drunken sailor, coming up with a horrendous drug entitlement program, etc. Well, he's let me down again, and this time, it's in the religious right's quest to stamp out the threat to all of mankind known as...porn. From All Headline News:

Federal prosecutors asked a California court to force Google to hand over information that would reveal what thousands of the Web site's users are searching for.

Google refused to comply with a subpoena that was also given to Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL, demanding the Internet service providers give prosecutors millions of search records, reports ZDnet.

The Bush administration demand falls under the controversial 1998 Child Online Protection Act. The law is being challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which says it violates freedom of speech.

Prosecutors are asking Google for a "random sampling" of 1 million Internet addresses accessible though its search engine, and a random sampling of 1 million search queries.

Google says in a statement, on Thursday that it will resist the request "vigorously."

Trying to stop the trafficking of kiddie porn doesn't bother me. In fact, I encourage it. Getting pedophiles off the street where they can't act on their predatory instincts is more than fine with me. However, scouring the search records of millions of people to do it is where I draw the line. It's a waste of time, an invasion of privacy, and an inefficient way of getting kiddie diddlers locked up.

What about cops who are launching online sting operations to nab child predators? They may use those search terms, get the feds dispatched to their homes, and have to explain to the feds why they're doing the search. Waste of time, big hassle, potential embarrassment, etc.

What about a person looking for "teen" activity? That does include 18 and 19, which I would guess most "teen" sites use for fear of prosecution. At least I think most "teen" sites are like that...how should I know?? Anyway, stop worrying about me and focus on the point! :-) The search for pedophiles could grab the unsuspecting adult who is doing nothing illegal or immoral, and thus diverting resources to a situation that is posing no real threat to anyone.

In my view, this doesn't have anything to do with child porn. The GOP has been on a total anti-porn crusade for decades now, and I'm completely put off by the efforts to deprive adults from making choices about their entertainment viewing. Perhaps porn is a scourge on society, and it can certainly lead to addiction. However, this is still (as of now, anyway) a country where people are free to flush their lives down the toilet if they want to. If you don't like that form of adult entertainment, don't watch it! How tough is that to understand?

To those on the left who try to compare this anti-porn crusade with warrantless searching of terrorism suspects, don't bother. Efforts to combat terrorism and protect our national security by using methods targeting terrorism suspects that even prior administrations signed off on do not bother me. Efforts to stop a guy from getting a "woodrow" or a girl from "dampening" are, to say the least, overbearing and overreaching!