Google Makes Case for User Privacy

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6:30 am on February 20, 2006 | Category: Business, Web Services

Google isn’t backing down in the battle to keep users’ search data private from the prying eyes of the US Department of Justice.

The internet search giant filed an official court statement on Friday, outlining its reasons for refusing to hand over search data to the DoJ. The document claims that complying the order would violate the trust of Google users, and compromise on the company’s commitment to keeping search data totally private.

Some of the information that users search for could personally identify them, the company claims, as some users could search for things like social security numbers, credit card numbers, and accidentally pasted but revealing text.

Google suggests that search queries are a type of online communication and should be protected under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, in the same way as personal email messages.

The arguments outlined in the statement will be used by Google to argue its case at a hearing on the issue later this month.