Google heads to court next month

By Steve Malone

Posted on 30 Jan 2006 at 10:39

Search engine Google will appear in court next month as it begins its defence over its refusal to hand over its logs to the US government. The company has been summoned to appear before a Federal court on 22 February.

The lawsuit follows a subpoena by the US Department of Justice which is looking for evidence of the extent of child pornography on the Internet as it builds its case for a new child protection law.

Last year, the DoJ asked each of the major search engines to hand over data relating to the number of pornographic sites on the Internet and the extent to which they were being sought. While Yahoo! and MSN complied, Google refused saying that the demands were 'overreaching' and would damage the company's reputation for maintaining its users' privacy.

The judge in the case, James Ware has asked Google to submit its arguments by February 6, with the Justice Department due to give its response by February 13.

The case follows a mixed week for Google in which it has been cheered on by civil rights groups in the US while attracting condemnation over its decision to censor its content in order to establish itself inside China.