Reader comments: Don't trust search engines or govt.
Here are some reader comments on the question of Gonzales v Google. Responding to our post on a Times article that reported that users are feeling wary about how their searches might be used, readers showed outrage at the government’s actions and the search companies’ compliance. Yahoo’s behavior in China also made readers wary. Here are some of the less partisan comments.
It seems like the US has been through a lot in past few years, yet nothing will ever justify or support its radical attitudes such as those of invading privacy and obliterating civil liberties.Evidently, if the US Government insists on this absurd idea of getting Google's or whosoever else's searching database to track people's visitations to websites and whereby inhibit their privacy rights, each and every soldier, war, battle or endeavor to keep America free and safe will have been thrown down the drain.
… Where's the liberty? Where's the freedom in it? Isn't forcing Google to provide such info a contradiction to American values?
- jrfirm
If you think they (Google, Yahoo, etc.) won't do exactly what the government wants, look at China where one gave records to the government & the other made a "special edition" that blocks topics the government doesn't want people to see.
If it comes down to the gov't shutting them down or arresting you, guess what the choice will be.
- DIMrBobSir
This is nothing new. Literature, music, films all media at some point has enjoyed freedom of expression at some point, before governments and big business have combined to censor and monitor them. The only difference is that the internet has been too difficult censor/monitor from a technical point of view. Now that China has led the way all others will follow. If we have freedom of thought it means we start thinking about things that endanger them, like why do we buy this, why do we vote for them but most importantly, what are the alternatives? The one thing that scares people in power the most is the thought that they may lose it.
That is why they want to control what we view/read and that way control what we think.- c-o-b
Can the information being collected in these subpoenas be used to convict? No. Maybe they'll help officials find criminals and actually collect real evidence that can be used to prosecute.
If you are doing a college report on pre-teen sexual habits, you may show up on a report somewhere. That’s all. If you also have homemade videos of the same subject, then you deserve to go to jail.
I'm not the only one who feels this way. Look at the react polls to what the media calls 'illegal phone tapping'. The majority of people polled aren't upset, because the people who make up this country and government actually want to put an end to terrorism.- ctm66446