Halt or I will oogle your Google

I am not crazy, maybe they are really out to get us. I'll admit I swallowed the whole schtick from the presumption of corporate irresponsibility to the paranoria about Big Brother's surveillance. Just as I am re-intergating into main stream society I find the US Justice Department wants all my search records. At the risk of relapsing I am convinced the government is out to get us all. I did a personal moral inventory long ago but the only one entitled to that information is myself and God. I'll never answer to anyone else no matter how big the gavel is that comes down upon my head.
Google is under assault for it's refusing to hand over search data to the US government. It's refusal to bow to the government plays well against the shameless complaisance of AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft. Shameless may be too kind of a word to describe those three companies. Think you have nothing to hide. Perhaps, but imagine your online profile, all the photos you post to the web, your emails, your search history, your squabbles with an ex lover, your medical records and even disagreements with business contacts. AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft just turned them all over the the US government.
The current administration said it needed all this information to justify it's position on the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, a law the US supreme Court struck down over two years ago. Let's face it, this is really about pornography in cyberspace. It is a fishing expedition! There has been no evidence of a crime or a court approved warrant. The government should have no authority to know where an individual goes on the internet. There is a big difference in reacting to help the law according to the laws and being ask to participate in a police state. America was founded on the principle of liberty. Stay out of my life unless I am doing something harmful to others. If you think I am doing something harmful then use the carefully constructed and regulated laws to stop me. Don't suspect everyone, monitor everyone and assume everyone is guilty. That's the way America is supposed to work.
Can anyone even Google ever be trusted to protect our personal information? Ever more our lives are conducted through electronic data bases. We can be assured that our internet search records, email trail and even our physical movements are being logged. As that data trail grows so does it's value. What the government really wants is a window into our personalities. By looking into that window it can see what we want and what we dream. At least for now Google is keeping the blinds closed on my window but for all those who continue to use AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft not only are your blinds open, there is no chance of ever closing them again.