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January 20, 2006
Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL provided government with users' search records
The Los Angeles Times did a follow-up story on Google's refusal to provide the federal government with user search records. The Times article revealed that three major Web sites, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL, gave government officials the requested data.
The data reportedly contained no personal information about users, and the government says it will use it to evaluate Internet porn searches.
Still, critics are concerned that the government will ultimately seek to identify users if search companies continue to hand over data. Such action could have a chilling effect on free speech:
Search engines maintain, said Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
a massive database that reaches into the most intimate details of your life: what you search for, what you read, what worries you, what you enjoy. ... It's critical to protect the privacy of this information so people feel free to use modern tools to find information without the fear of Big Brother looking over their shoulder.
Posted by Jessica Bernstein-Wax at January 20, 2006 09:24 AM
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