Will DOJ subpoena Google video porn searches? Then hey DOJ-subpoena this!
Nice young lady. I have it on authority she is passing out flyers for a philosophy symposium at the local college. And it is just so hot today, she decided to dress for the weather.
As a civil libertarian, I fumed when I read my colleague Declan McCullagh's post today containing the news that the U.S. Department of Justice has "suggested" to Google that it hand over one million "random" search records to the agency within 21 days.
Ostensibly, that's because the Bush Administration would like those records to prove its case that Internet filtering software that is supposed to block searches for (tsk, tsk) pornographic Web sites doesn't really work as well as outright restrictions and the teeth to enforce them do.
That's what the DOJ says. But see, to me this whole effort to crack down on pornography is really an effort on the part of this administration to appear it is protecting the children- a cause near and dear to a certain segment of the electorate.
I happen to think that protecting our children from melting ice-caps caused by global warming accelerated by our non-signing of various treaties is a bigger sin. I mean bared cleavage is worse than bared ice caps? Full-motion strippers are "pornographic" but strip mining is not? Ah, come on.
But I then started to think, OK, well, how does this apply to what I cover in this blog- IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband, Convergence?
OK, what about searches on Google for streaming video porn- content that is, after all a key reason why some folks no longer go to the peep show and instead sign up for high-speed broadband so they can watch - well, ya know.
And are these searches going to be included in the "one million" searches the DOJ wants?
I then decided to go to Google and see what a typical Google search using the search terms "movies" and "sex" would, um, "bring up."
What you see at the top of this post is result #1. High-speed downloads from a site I'd rather not name. (note: clicking through gets you to some real graphic content). But if you must know, I have linked to it and even taken a grab (of the home page's main picture).
Seriously, tho- you stand up to the DOJ, Google. What adults choose to search for is their own business. And if your child gets through a filter and wants to view intimate acts over your broadband connection, then *you* are the child's parent. Not the Department of "Justice."