Phoenix Network Forums

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/0 ... index.html

Yesterday, I was listening to Air America on my radio as I went home, and the host was talking about Google's refusal to hand over records of searches made on their website.

In a nutshell: the US government is asking for a complete record of what people are looking at, when it is obviously none of their business. They claim that they need these records to prove that a child nanny law is necessary to protect children from online pornography.

The killer is that they're trying to subtly shift the blame from irresponsible parents to the creators of adult media.

3 cheers for Google for standing up!
The government's got no business looking through peoples' search records.
Not to mention the sheer impossibility of what they want - are they really gonna look through the millions upon millions of results they're asking for? I doubt it.
Nor do I see how this can help keep kids away from porn - ok, so the gov't will see what IP addresses are searching for porn. They still can't check who was using the computer at the time, so this is just stupid and pointless.

Google does give the most popular searches away at http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html, it is interesting to look at. However, this in no was compromises the privacy of users.

Zeitgeist This Week
Top 15 Search Queries: Week Ending January 16, 2006
1. joe pichler
2. golden globes
3. james franco
4. james frey
5. angelina jolie pregnant
6. martin luther king
7. kim mathers
8. sasha cohen

9. smoking gun
10. denver broncos
11. naked news
12. hoodwinked
13. michelle wie
14. seahawks
15. friday the 13th

Shows what the world is intrested in, somewhat.

haha, naked news

Yahoo and MSN have agreed to give records to the US government to a certain extent.

Yeah but they suck. Google did the right thing i think. The government have no right to read through all those records. They wouldn't anyway, they would be too lazy.

Im from Australia, so would this mean they would be reading through the australian results as well?

i also think google made the right thing... This concerns peoples privacy...

NoSpI wrote:Im from Australia, so would this mean they would be reading through the australian results as well?

I would say that the US government has no jurisdiction regarding Google searches, not from the fact of a privacy issue, but of the fact that many people who visit google are international users.

US government can't do anything to non-residents who aren't guilty of anything -_-

nighthawk wrote:US government can't do anything to non-residents who aren't guilty of anything -_-

Can't do anything to residents who ain't guilty, either

Bugs42 wrote:Can't do anything to residents who ain't guilty, either

Well they have a someone legitimate reason for looking at anonymous access lists of CITIZENS.

nighthawk wrote:

Bugs42 wrote:Can't do anything to residents who ain't guilty, either

Well they have a someone legitimate reason for looking at anonymous access lists of CITIZENS.

Legitimate? Hardly.
What use could this POSSIBLY be? They have no way of actually knowing who's looking at what. Sure, you can see what IPs where, but you can't check on who was actually on the computer at the time.

Bugs42 wrote:What use could this POSSIBLY be? They have no way of actually knowing who's looking at what. Sure, you can see what IPs where, but you can't check on who was actually on the computer at the time.

They aren't looking to say WHO was looking at WHAT. Merely they want to see how many times 'PORNO HOT GIRLS LOLOL' was searched, and use it as evidence for a bill that enforces tighter control for adult content on the website. Like I said, they have a legimate reason to do this IF google.com was only accessed by American citizens. Since it isn't, they have no jurisdiction.

nighthawk wrote:They aren't looking to say WHO was looking at WHAT. Merely they want to see how many times 'PORNO HOT GIRLS LOLOL' was searched, and use it as evidence for a bill that enforces tighter control for adult content on the website. Like I said, they have a legimate reason to do this IF google.com was only accessed by American citizens. Since it isn't, they have no jurisdiction.

I think that it gives the goverment much more than that. First off how the f*** do they know if im a 10 or a 50 year old looking up porn. Second its the parents responsibility. Stop getting mad at the tv for showing unmoral stuff, get involved in your childs life and make a difference. I think this would let parents slack more. The goverment is using it as a front. They will use it for porn tracking but thats secondary. They will log it all. Even if that may be depression, martial councling, and so on.

antirem wrote:I think that it gives the goverment much more than that. First off how the f*** do they know if im a 10 or a 50 year old looking up porn. Second its the parents responsibility. Stop getting mad at the tv for showing unmoral stuff, get involved in your childs life and make a difference. I think this would let parents slack more. The goverment is using it as a front. They will use it for porn tracking but thats secondary. They will log it all. Even if that may be depression, martial councling, and so on.

The US government isn't using it for tracking, and aren't using it for telling if you are 10 or 50. They are using it for evidence that it is far too easy to get porn on the internet being underage. Basically what they want to do is this;

"See? 90% of google searches involve the word 'boobies'. We need tighter control on internet porn. Now."

I wholeheartedly agree that parents have a respondsibility that they have been shirking as of late, however it is almost impossible to prevent your child from seeing porn on the internet, even by accident. A silly example, but an example nontheless is Goatse. That's spread by wildfire, and many people visited it non-intentionally (people faking links).

I'm sorry I just have to say this

Maybe the US is trying to prevent us from watching....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/01/25/panda.passion/index.html