Digital Dragnet

The Bush Administration has subpeonaed Google in an attempt to revive an anti-pornography law already struck down by the courts. Amongst the items they are asking for:

"A request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period"

So, they are effectively casting a huge random net.

They have decided to put everyone who has ever posted a picture on the internet that could be deemed as "pornographic" by the Justice Department in enormous legal jepardy.

To their credit, Google is fighting the subpeona, but given the way the company has bent to government will in China, how long to you think they will hold out?

Way back in 1984, I remember a number of commentators remarking how the future imagined in Orwell's book had not come true.

Yeah, but I guess that was because they hadn't yet developed the software.