Judge rejects government demand for Google search terms

In his ruling Ware said there were three “vital interests” raised by the case: “(1) the national interest in a judicial system to reach informed decisions through the power of a subpoena to compel a third party to produce relevant information; (2) the third-party’s interest in not being compelled by a subpoena to reveal confidential business information and devote resources to a distant legislation; and (3) the interest of individuals in freedom from general surveillance by the Government of their use of the Internet or other communications media.”

Though not central to Google’s legal arguments, the last point here was always the most crucial in relation to this case, as the ruling itself recognizes. Judge Ware states, “On March 14, 2006, this Court held a hearing on the Government’s Motion. At that hearing, the Government made a significantly scaled-down request from the information it originally sought. For the reasons explained in this Order, the motion to compel, as modified, is GRANTED as to the sample URLs from Google search index and DENIED as to the sample of users’ search queries from Google’s query log.”

The US Department of Justice had asked the District Court of San Jose, California, to compel Google to comply with a subpoena issued last year to turn over records that detail millions of Internet searches.

Following negotiations with Google, the initial request for all URLs (web addresses) available through Google’s index and all search queries between June 1, and July 31, 2005 was eventually scaled down to 50,000 URLs and searches made over a one-week period. While seeking to limit the impact of the subpoena, Google continued to oppose the government request on the grounds that it was unduly burdensome and “not reasonably calculated to lead to e

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