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There is an interesting story being written.  It’s a kind of David and Goliath story except both opponents are Goliaths.

The US government is trying to get Google and other search engines to turn over data from their databases.  Google is the only one to yet comply to the request.

In this article I look at what this could mean to us:  The users as well as looking at what Google is doing and the impact it will have.

According to this story the US government wants a random list of a million URLs as well as a complete week’s worth of search queries in order to determine how prevalent online porn is.

And while this seems like a good idea – after all we don’t want our kids to have such easy access to porn – Google has balked at the idea.

One may wonder why Google wouldn’t want to help the Government combat porn.  After all you would think it would help improve the Google Experience.

However Google also has fears.  That is, if they comply to such a simple request, what would happen next time, or the time after that?

In other words, when the Government crosses the line and asks for too much information, could Google then deny the request?  Not likely.

So what Google is doing now, in a roundabout way, is protecting our privacy.  They understand that if they were to honor this request now, it opens the door for a whole bunch of other “requests” for information which could include access to your personal data.

Imagine that – the government having the right to access the personal information found within your email inbox, or search history and then being able to use that against you.

That tasteless joke about terrorism that some friend sent you which you saved instead of deleted could come back to haunt you if the Government gets its own way.

If all the Government wanted was to truly eradicate the web of porn then I wouldn’t have a problem with this action, however you and I both know that it won’t stop there.

Too often we’ve seen seemingly benign requests such as this lead to more and more requests which ask for more personal information.

The other problem is that not all Google users are American.  I’m not, yet my personal information could be subject to their rules because it’s hosted on an American Google server.

And I’m a virtual packrat.  I don’t hardly throw email out – why should I with almost 3 gigabytes of free storage space?

And if the engines do give into these types of requests – who is next?  Remember how tied we are to the web – how much of our personal information is out there?

I know I have a Microsoft Passport with personal information, and I have a Yahoo! Account for accessing the various Yahoo! Properties.  But there are also a lot of other sites that we visit on a regular basis which could be construed badly, even if its innocent enough.

Therefore I think we should applaud Google in its handling of this issue.  They should fight this request and force the Government to take legal steps to get access to this information.  Because if they give it up to willingly now, they will have less grounds in the future to deny other requests.

Rob Sullivan is a SEO Consultant and Writer for Textlinkbrokers.com