Tim Wu article on Google and search engine privacy
This is pretty much exactly the point I’ve been trying to make – while Google is commendable for standing up to the government, they created this problem in the first place by aggregating search data.
“Imagine we were to find out one day that Starbucks had been recording everyone’s conversations for the purpose of figuring out whether cappuccino is more popular than macchiato. Sure, the result, on the margin, might be a better coffee product. And, yes, we all know, or should, that our conversations at Starbucks aren’t truly private. But we’d prefer a coffee shop that wasn’t listening – and especially one that won’t later be able to identify the macchiato lovers by name. We need to start to think about search engines the same way and demand the same freedoms.”
January 25th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Suppose the coffee shop had a security camera outside, facing up the street.
Suppose a crime was committed on that street, and the police asked the coffee shop for a copy of the tape from a certain day.
Would it be so unreasonable for them to comply?
January 26th, 2006 at 10:35 am
But that’s not the question being asked here. Suppose the coffee shop had a security camera outside, facing the porn store down the street, but which conveniently covered the entire street, including a doctor’s office, abortion clinic, and Mosque (yes, it’s a busy street). Suppose no crime was committed on that street but the government wanted to pass a law making every porn store have a bouncer at the front door to keep kids from entering. Would it be unreasonable for the coffee shop to hand over a week’s worth of tapes for the doctor’s office, abortion clinic, and Mosque so the government could see if any kids went into the shop?