In an update to an article I posted yesterday regarding the feds subpoenaing Google in the latest salvo on the Ashcroft/Gonzales War On Porn.
Boing Boing has a post indicating that similar subpoenas have been sent to Yahoo, AOL, and MSN…and that they were complied with without a squabble.
That knowledge elevates Google a peg or two in my mind.
I don’t actually mind the feds doing research. However, it seems to me that it would be better privacy-wise for the government to work with the Google (or AOL, Yahoo, or MSN) data-monkeys to design the necessary queries and pass the results, rather than just passing data wholesale.