DOJ asks Court to keep secret any partnership between Google and NSA, not that one exists, definitely not

Mike Scarcella in The Legal Times writes about The Justice Department defending the government's refusal to discuss, or acknowledge the existence of, "any cooperative research and development agreement between Google and the National Security Agency."

The Washington based advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center sued in federal district court here to obtain documents about any such agreement between the Internet search giant and the security agency.
The NSA responded to the suit with a so-called “Glomar” response in which the agency said it could neither confirm nor deny whether any responsive records exist. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington sided with the government last July.

(via Oxblood Ruffin)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

MORE: doj • google • law • nsa • politics • privacy • secrecy • surveillance • transparency

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Mister44

Why is it I dislike google more and more every day?
- IamInnocent
  
  You don’t know why and the DoJ want you to stay that ignorant: focusing out hate on that may pay better.
Gary61

How can you be posting this??? It’s supposed to be Top Sekrit!
http://twitter.com/samari711 samari711

Not to rain on the tin foil hat parade too much, but that’s the answer they’d give regardless of which company you ask about. It is literally a non-answer because if you tell people everyone you’re not working with, who you’re working with becomes trivial to figure out.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  Failing to presume the worst of government is akin to trusting that dog owner ignoring the leash law.
  - oasisob1
    
    I’ll have you know that my dog is very well behaved off-leash. He tolerates children and other dogs, doesn’t bark, bite or growl.
    - Guest
      
      That is one among many sincere forms of flattery you might give your dog.
  - http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
    
    “But you said your dog does not bite!’
    
    “That, sir, is not my dog.”
- Nicholas Agostino
  
  You’re kidding right? The NSA OWNS Google. No one can be this ignorant
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

Does Google monitor all NSA use of Google assets in order to maintain tha’ hole thing they got with claiming not to be evil?

I’m taking the best approach to the neither confirm nor deny, I am presuming the worst.
- rndmtim
  
  “Don’t be evil” should be corrected to “Don’t be evil! Please don’t be evil! Nooo!!!” or more simply “Stop being evil”.
  - professor
    
    How about “Don’t get caught being evil”?
http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm

No problem, this stuff is bound to leak out sooner or later. I’ll just search for information about it on Goo- …

Oh.
Sparg

The NSA isn’t supposed to monitor internal US traffic or traffic originating from within the US, but we’d always ask the GCHQ guys to check shit for us. Always a way around the law. Check out the UKUSA Agreement. ;)
http://tokyofarm.com Spencer Cross

Assuming there must be some kind of agreement because the NSA isn’t denying it strikes me as the nerd equivalent of the NSA assuming you must have something to hide if you oppose heavy handed surveillance or TSA scanners or what have you.
RedShirt77

Is there something going on? maybe? Is it at all surprising that the NSA didn’t turn itself in at the request of an advocacy organization? Nope, not at all. Is it news? Hmm…
blissfulight

But if the ‘enemy’ already knows, then who are we keeping it secret from?
- http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/42THFKXIPMJHQBIH6OPI4RVIDY Thebes
  
  Voters
http://twitter.com/kabster kabster

I’m gonna tell.
wiredreader2010

Pretty sure they had to have some kind of NSA agreements when they launched their mapping satelite back in 2008. I have serious doubts that google knowingly gives any data to the nsa… I suspect they require a giant paper-trail for all govt taps.
petsounds

Yesterday it was revealed that DARPA director Regina Dugan is joining Google. No, no good sir! Of course there’s no cozy relationship between national security agencies and Google!

http://allthingsd.com/20120312/darpas-regina-dugan-will-join-google/
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/42THFKXIPMJHQBIH6OPI4RVIDY Thebes

Does this mean DARPA’s 40-year-old project to install sensors into all US households is complete?
lumpygravy2

Any one who believes that Google was started by two college kids, next door to the CIA and the NSA is just pulling the wool over their eyes.
ultimabuddy

This trope is known as ‘Suspiciously Specific Denial’.