A federal judge says he will require the search engine company to provide the government with some search-query data in connection with the Justice Dept.’s attempts to revive an online child pornography law.

It’s unclear what kind of and how much data the judge will order turned over.

That strange shifting underneath your feet? It’s the slippery slope we’re all sliding down, toward an Orwellian future.

Truthdig’s Google expert Mark Malseed has the skinny on the implications of this battle.


AP:

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A federal judge said Tuesday he intends to require Google Inc. to turn over some information to the Department of Justice in its quest to revive a law making it harder for children to see online pornography.

U.S. District Judge James Ware did not immediately say whether the data will include words that users entered into the Internet’s leading search engine.

The legal showdown over how much of the Web’s vast databases should be shared with the government has pitted the Bush administration against the Mountain View-based company, which resisted a subpoena to turn over any information because of user privacy and trade secret concerns.

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