Google does the right thing and refuses to hand over its records to the U.S. Government.

To me, the request was especially galling in the light of recent revelations regarding the Bush Administration’s illegal monitoring of U.S. citizens. The Bush team has never done anything to reassure the public that they will do the right thing with the power they’re given, or that they’ll be able to manage it intelligently.

As a researcher in language technology, I wonder if we’re going to be feeling a bit Oppenheimer-ish in ten years after our labours are used to unleash spybots onto every SMS, phone conversation, and email in the world. It’s not a topic that ever gets treated anywhere in the literature that I’ve seen (although more general AI work does cover this sometimes). Not even the Corpora list has had a whisper about the ramifications of this work. I think we’re due for a conversation about our responsibilities and our rights.

In the meantime, I hope Google fights that pack of maniacs off. So do many politicians of the Christian Right persuasion, I am sure. Bet there’s more than a smidgen of porn in those search histories.