Googlr Refuses Warrant Demanding Broad Search Information (suspect, Minnesota, high school)

[Mr. In-Between]

In terms of privacy, this may very well be the most Orwellian overreach in the history of the internet.

Internet giant Google is vowing to fight a search warrant demanding that Edina police be able to collect information on any resident who used certain search terms as authorities try to locate a thief who swindled a resident out of $28,500...

Issued by Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson in early February, the warrant pertains to anyone who searched variations of the resident's name on Google from Dec. 1 through Jan. 7.

In addition to basic contact information for people targeted by the warrant, Google is being asked to provide Edina police with their Social Security numbers, account and payment information, and IP (internet protocol) and MAC (media access control) addresses.

In other words, the police want the names, social security numbers, addresses, and credit card/bank account information for every single person who even googled the name of one of the suspects. If you read an article in the newspaper about the theft and wanted to look up more information about the case, and used the names of the suspects to search for information, the court says that is probable cause to suspect you of committing or having material knowledge of a crime.

Let that sink in for a moment...

But, it actually gets even worse.

Let's say you do a google image search for, say, your brother. Google will pull up every photo it can find that is clearly identified as your brother, but the photo recognition software will also flag photos of people whose facial features closely resemble those of your brother. And it will helpfully display those photos just in case that's who you are looking for.

Let's say this suspect bears a resemblance to your brother. So it fetches back a photo of the suspect as well.

Now, you are a suspect, and Google must turn over your name, social security number, and banking/credit card information to the government.

Now let that one sink in and tell me how you like it.

Better yet - you don't even have to have been looking for that suspect. Anyone who even googles a name that is similar to his is included in the warrant. Let's say his name was Jon Jonnssen. Let's say that you, living in California, are trying to track down an old high school buddy from San Luis Obispo who you haven't seen since the 70s. His name is John Johnson. So, you search for him on Google, and what do you know? The Edina, Minnesota Police Department now has your social security number and banking information, and you are under investigation.

How do you feel about that one?

This one is really scary. I don't think I've ever seen a more frightening example of judicial overreach in terms of internet privacy. I don't know how even the authoritarian conservative "if ya got nothin to hide ya got nothin to worry about" types can feel comfortable with this one, but then I'm sure some of them will find a way to surprise me.

Google vows to fight warrant for all who looked up Edina resident's name online - StarTribune.com

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

Wow.

"In the first half of 2016, Google received more than 14,000 requests from the U.S. alone and provided information for 79 percent of them."

Google vows to fight warrant for all who looked up Edina resident's name online - StarTribune.com

How would Google know anyone's social security number?

[Mr. In-Between]

Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould

Wow.

"In the first half of 2016, Google received more than 14,000 requests from the U.S. alone and provided information for 79 percent of them."

Google vows to fight warrant for all who looked up Edina resident's name online - StarTribune.com

How would Google know anyone's social security number?

That's a damned good question, and in the end may be one of the scariest subtexts of this whole thing. I can think of many ways that they could know it (none of them good), but not a single explanation for why they should.

This really bears watching as it works its way through the courts - as it certainly will.

By the way, having lived much of my life in Hennepin County before moving to hell, I should say that I know this judge. Not in the sense of he came over for barbecues, but in the sense that I have had contact with him and know a lot about him. He's an extremely strange, eccentric guy. He's one of those classic 12-steppers who never get over being angry that they can't drink anymore, and seem to hate everyone who can. He just goes through life with a chip on his shoulder, doing everything his way and only his way just because he can. This is probably the most outrageous decision i have ever seen him make, but it is not the only one. This guy is a couple french fries short. It'll be interesting to see how this is handled as it goes up the chain.

[Frank DeForrest]

Google may as well be a govt agency itself.

[Mr. In-Between]

In many ways, it's worse.

[Catgirl64]

This is disturbing for so many reasons. Wow.

[JAMS14]

In my job, I do research on a wide variety of diverse subjects. I worry that at some point some word or phrase in my search will trigger something like this. I hope Google stands firm on this, though it would not surprise me in the least if the federal government came down on the other side of this issue and tries to force Google to comply. We have lost a whole lot of our rights to privacy under the atrocity called the Patriot Act.