Department of Justice Rejects Google's Claims of Privacy Threat

Good article from Internet News about the DOJ rejecting Googles claim that the governments subpoena would threaten a users privacy.

    The Department of Justice (DoJ) has rejected Google's assertion that a government subpoena for search data threatens the privacy of Internet users.

"The government has not asked Google to produce any information that would personally identify its users," according to the DoJ's response filed Friday in a San Jose court.

Earlier this month, Google rejected the government's request in a strongly-worded response to the subpoena, arguing that the disclosure of the information could give competitors insight into its user habits. Search rivals Yahoo, MSN and AOL have already complied with the subpoena.

"Users trust that when they enter a search query into a Google search box, not only will they receive back the most relevant results, but that Google will keep private whatever information users communicate," according to Google.

But the government said Google's objections are "meritless."