The U.S. Government is suing Google for non-compliance after the DOJ requested Google users' search records. AOL, MSN and Yahoo all complied with the DOJ requests, which were couched in terms of the fight against child porn. This is being reported by ZDnet, Bloomberg and other sources.

What is not getting much press is that this is a thinly disguised attempt to set precedent for future USA PATRIOT Act searches of everything we search for online. Combatting child pornography, like the fight against drugs and the struggle against terrorism, is nearly impossible to disagree with. The ACLU has stepped in - as they did with the DOJ initially attempted to regulate the Internet due to the fear of rampant child porn - stating that it is impossible to comply with COPA (the Child Online Protection Act) without infringing on the rights of free, legal speech mandated by the Constitution.

It's a shame that AOL, MSN and Yahoo complied so readily, happily divulging information that is highly personal without so much as a notice to their users. Meanwhile, the Bush administration is attempting to paint Google as a friend to child pornographers when in fact they are fighting for your right to a little bit of privacy. Giving in now will make it that much easier for the Government to install a pipeline from these centers of communication straight to Homeland Security as they have already done with the phone lines.

If, though, you feel that it's unpatriotic to withhold any of your search information to the government, please consider using the new PATRIOT Search engine - be sure to check out the seach syntax!

At least it's still legal to laugh...