Search Engine Watch co-editor Danny Sullivan, who's been providing excellent coverage and analysis of the DoJ subpoenas on search engines, tells Boing Boing,
I've posted two new items today, one a flowchart of just how hard it is to secure privacy (Link), while the other is a look at how searches can be private but not necessarily personally identifiable (Link).
Overall, the big plus in all of this is that hopefully it will spark a big rethink and some action on privacy overall.
On the Politech mailing list, Declan McCullagh writes,
The court documents in the case are here (scroll down).
I wrote a FAQ that's up here.
[T]he privacy interests of search engine users (…) are explored in two editorials on Friday: SF Gate, Freep.
Perhaps visits to a search engine can be thought of as somewhat akin to thumbing through a dictionary, or an encyclopedia, or a phone book. You'd want privacy in those cases, especially when doing financial or medical research. But because the Supreme Court has said you don't have privacy when your records are held by others, the virtual equivalent of thumbing-through information is available to curious prosecutors or divorce attorneys. Thanks a lot, Supremes: Link
And Boing Boing reader M.A.K says,
Instead of using an entire Firefox extension, the GoogleAnon bookmarklet will reset your Google GUID to all zeros, effectivly rendering you anonymous. Link
Previously:
Xeni on NPR "Talk of The Nation": Search Engines and Privacy Rights
HOWTO anonymize your search history
DoJ search requests: Google said no; Yahoo, AOL, MSN yes
DoJ demands user search records from Google
