a recusa

While the DoJ's request would not identify individual users, the scope and nature of this request sets a troubling precedent. Today, they argue, only search strings and urls; tomorrow, perhaps, the IP addresses of all users who typed in "Osama Bin Laden."

É claro que o Google faz bem em negar os dados que lhe foram exigidos. Não só porque as revelações recentes sobre um reforço ilegítimo do poder executivo devem implicar um aumento da atenção por parte dos cidadãos, mas também porque, como aponta Danny Sullivan neste post em que tem acompanhado a situação,

The data, as I've written, isn't going to help the government at all in what they say it will do. Heck, if they really need that list, they could buy the data from Wordtracker. But by handing it over, the search engine loses the perception of trust with its users. They may not understand that it is not personal. They will understand the government made a wideranging request for information and that the search company didn't push back. That type of trust is worth defending in the face of an ill advised, useless government action.