A while back I read John Battelle's The Search for a piece I was writing about Google. It introduced me to a particularly useful phrase, the "database of intentions", to describe Google's record of the searches people were asking it perform.
Put briefly: you see a search box on an uncluttered webpage; Google sees millions of requests coming in from across the globe. It knows what you want from the internet because you tell it.
The Bush administration, as court papers lodged in San Jose have revealed, now wants Google to hand over a week's worth of this database to help it build up a profile of internet use in order to uphold laws against child pornography.
The court papers said it did not want information that would link individuals to searches (which would have created huge huge privacy concerns) but Google refused. Its lawyer said it could not accept the perception that Google was "willing to reveal information about those who use its services."
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