Should Search Engines Remember What You Search For?
Keeping Secrets - A simple prescription for keeping Google’s records out of government hands, By Tim Wu, Slate, Jan. 23, 2006.
With all the recent press about the subpoena
of records from search engines (e.g.,
Google subpoena roils the Web, By Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe, January 21, 2006), this article puts the underlying issues in perspective.
Imagine we were to find out one day that Starbucks had been recording everyone’s conversations for the purpose of figuring out whether cappuccino is more popular than macchiato. Sure, the result, on the margin, might be a better coffee product. And, yes, we all know, or should, that our conversations at Starbucks aren’t truly private. But we’d prefer a coffee shop that wasn’t listeningÑand especially one that won’t later be able to identify the macchiato lovers by name. We need to start to think about search engines the same way and demand the same freedoms.