Google Resists Justice Dep't Subpoena on Trade Secrets Grounds

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, an article on how Google's decision to resist a Justice Department subpoena for data on what people search for on the Web puts the company in a contrary position to its biggest competitors, Yahoo, AOL and MSN. On the one hand, the company is contending that compliance would reveal its trade secrets. On the other hand, the article contends, Google is trying to create a perception among its users that it won't simply turn over their personal information regarding searches to the government.

One Internet marketing consultant is quoted as saying that the company might be using the decision as a publicity ploy, holding out until the government changes the wording enough on its request to allow Google to claim to protect user data while still handing it over.