Searching For Porn

The White House, with the blessing of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has been pressuring Google to give information on uses of its search engines to detect computer users who look for illegal Internet pornography. When I first heard of this, I thought, "Wow - Bush will do anything to get Bill Maher off the air!"

Anyway, Google saves all its search requests, and because of a computer's IP number (kind of like a VIN on a car), they know where - and who - these search requests come from. But Google keeps that information to itself, and refuses use it or to allow it to be used by anyone for any purpose. ("Google's motto: Do no evil.") So Google has defied the government's request, citing the right to the privacy of its clients. Good for them - let's hope they can keep Bush's Injustice Department at bay.

Although the govenrment has gone after other Internet search engines, they've been especially aggressive in going after Google. Wonder why? Maybe it's the fact that Google is the largest and most widely used search engine on the 'Net. Maybe it's also because when you type in "failure" in Google you get as the first site the official site of . . . George Walker Bush. :-D