Yahoo a donné son data de requêtes au gouvernement Bush.
Google combat l'administration Bush pour ne pas avoir a faire de même.
Preuve Yahoo:X
Preuve Google:X
texte Yahoo.
Google, Yahoo Subpoenaed By Bush Administration
One of at least two major search engines subpoenaed by the Bush administration handed over search data in the government's efforts to revive an anti-porn law that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Yahoo Inc., based in Sunnyvale, Calif., acknowledged on Thursday handing over search data, but insisted no personal information on users was given to government attorneys. The disclosure followed reports that rival search engine Google Inc. had refused to comply with a similar subpoena, issued last year.
The government had asked Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., for a broad amount of data, including a million random Web addresses and records of Google searches over any week, the Associated Press reported. The information came from U.S. Justice Department papers filed Wednesday in a San Jose, Calif., federal court.
A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company, which she described as a "rigorous" defender of user privacy, did not provide personal data in response to the Justice Department subpoena.
"In our opinion, this is not a privacy issue," spokeswoman Mary Osako said in an email. "We complied on a limited basis and did not provide any personally identifiable information."
It was not immediately clear whether other major search engines had received subpoenas. Microsoft Corp., which owns the MSN search engine, declined to discuss the matter, issuing instead a statement saying, "It is our policy to respond to legal requests in a very responsive and timely manner in full compliance with applicable law." Ask Jeeves, owned by InterActiveCorp, was not immediately available for comment.
The high court ruled two years ago that the 1998 Child Online Protection Act requiring adults to use access codes or register with a site before receiving adult material violated free speech. The court also ruled that filtering software was adequate to protect children. Administration lawyers are hoping that the search data will help convince a Pennsylvania federal court that technology is doing an inadequate job, the AP said.
At least one search expert argued that the government could test whether children can get pornography through search engines, without seeking such a huge amount of data from search engines.
"If you want to measure how much porn is showing up in searches, try searching for it yourself rather than issuing privacy alarm sounding subpoenas. It would certainly be more accurate," Danny Sullivan, editor for Search Engine Watch, said Thursday in his Web log.
While it appeared the government was not seeking personal data that would identify individuals, there was still reason for concern, Sullivan said.
"Nothing suggests that they wanted to know who did the searches in any way," Sullivan said. "Having said this, such a move absolutely should breed some paranoia. They didn't ask for data this time, but next time, they might."
Sullivan also noted that the government-requested data could also be obtained through Internet service providers.
Google will fight Bush Administration demand for search records
From James Bone of The Times in New York
The US Government is taking legal action to gain access to Google’s vast database of internet searches in an historic clash over privacy.
The Bush Administration has asked a federal judge to order the world’s most popular internet search engine to hand over the records of all Google searches for any one-week period, as well as other closely guarded data. The California-based company is to fight the move.
The immediate flashpoint is the Government’s effort to revive an online child pornography law that was struck down by the Supreme Court two years ago.
The US Justice Department requested access to Google’s search records as part of its effort to prove the constitutionality of the 1998 Child Online Protection Act.
The controversial law sought to curb minors’ access to internet pornography by making it a crime to publish material that is "harmful to minors" on the web.
The law was immediately challenged by civil liberties groups and never came into force. It was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court on the grounds that it was unconstitutionally restrictive of free speech.
But the Supreme Court gave the Government a second chance to prove that the law’s proposed criminal penalties would work better to protect children than internet filters or other methods.
The Government’s request for Google data came to light when Justice Department lawyers filed papers in federal court in San Jose, California, revealing that the internet search firm had failed to comply with a subpeona for records in the case.
The Government indicated that other unnamed search engines had already agreed to release the information, but not Google, which runs 46 per cent of all US web searches.
"The production of those materials would be of significant assistance to the government’s preparation of its defence of the constitutionality of this important statute," the government lawyers wrote.
Nicole Wong, Google’s associate general counsel, countered: "Google is not a party to this lawsuit, and the demand for the information is overreaching."
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