Sell-out with me,
Oh yeah!
Sell-out!
With me,
alright.

A government attorney subpoenaed all our data
but everything's
gonna be
alright.

(Procure 'Sell out' by Reel Big Fish for the proper rhythm)

Microsoft will fight the DoJ on an antitrust suit, telling them that the economy will collapse if XP isn't delivered on time, but they won't fight this.

or

It's probably just payback for all the industrial espionage carried out on their behalf by Echelon.

Wait until google needs a government contract or government approval for something. They will cave then because it's good business.

BTW, looks like we split the difference:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6028701.html

"We did comply with their request for data in regards to helping protect children, in a way that ensured we also protected the privacy of our customers," the company said. "We were able to share aggregated query data (not search results) that did not include any personally identifiable information, at their request."

So - no privacy violation. Debate as to whether the aggregated data should've been released is a different issue. :)

Philo [MSFT]

> So - no privacy violation.

You have no idea what they really gave.

Neither do you, and I can't prove a negative. Your turn.

Philo

It's like email. If you think you have any more privacy than that afforded by pasting printouts on street signposts then more fool you.

http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/archive/2006/01/20/515606.aspx#comments

What I don't understand is why anyone thinks that getting a million URLs from Google's index is going to be any use whatsoever in determining anything at all -- given that last time they reported figures it was something like 8 billion pages in their index, 1 million is about 0.012% of the total. It's kind of like getting 10,000 people together and trying to work out what they're all like by looking at one individual.

That's pretty cool Philo.

It almost makes me feel guilty about my generalized assumption without having real facts.

Almost.

Why doesn't google just do the same? It sounds as though their feet are being held to a slightly (and yet altogether) different flame.

Data that doesn't identify people or give away trade secrets should all be public domain, imo.

I can think of four reasons:
1) They reacted without really thinking it through ("Why not just remove the personally identifying information? Then they just get a bunch of searches and hits")
2) They figured that they could take a stand and get free press for "not being evil"
3) They really feel like the government has no legal right to the information
4) They just resent being subpoenaed.

Philo