Google ordered to release some search data

Found on PhysOrg on Friday, 17 March 2006
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Google has been ordered to turn over some data on sites in its popular search engine to the US federal government -- but only 50,000, far fewer than the government wanted, under a judge's ruling.

But he rejected the Justice Department's attempt to obtain more sensitive data that might disclose the online search habits of web users, noting that that could spark a possible "loss of good will" among its users.

Federal prosecutors sought the information as ammunition in a legal fight to revive an overturned 1998 statute making it a crime for websites to allow minors access to adult material online such as pornography.

The government wants the information to bolster an effort to resurrect the law, which it contends made it tougher for minors to access pornography on the Internet.

So, the Feds sued Google because some 14 year old teenage bloomers search online rumpy pumpy to learn by viewing? There must be a ton of excess resources; obviously, they already caught Bin Laden, established world peace and stopped all famines. This also brings up the question why Google stores this detailed information anyway.