Cheers for Google for snubbing government

Re “U.S. Obtains Internet Users’ Search Records,” Jan. 20

Hurrah for Google. Compliments of Yahoo, AOL and MSN, President Bush now knows I search on Prison News Network, People for the American Way, alternet@democracyinaction.org and such other “questionable” sites as the Democratic Party’s. Of course, he’s only checking to see if I’m accessing questionable pornography, but if he were to re-label any of the above sites as criminal, what happens next?

Today he’s trying to find if a child is accessing porn sites. Tomorrow he’s looking to see if my child is accessing alternative views to Fox News. Stand firm, Google. Stand firm, America.

CAROLE URIE-CHICKERING

Laguna Beach

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Lately, I open my newspaper wondering what bombardment on Americans’ privacy will be in the headlines. I truly wish this were not the case.

Even after the revelations about wiretapping by the government without proper warrants, I shake my head and look again at Friday’s lead story about the Justice Department subpoenaing Internet users’ search records.

The Bush administration’s justification -- that it is looking for search trends to aid efforts to regulate child pornography -- is vague. Troubling, too, is the specific two-month window. It raises a lot of questions as to what the government is really looking for.

I applaud Google for vigorously fighting the subpoena. Guess which search engine I’ll be using?

MAUREEN DISCIPULO

Redondo Beach