June 9, 2004

Licensed to Google

I always thought secret agents got all the gizmos unavailable to civilians, but now it seems it may be the other way around:

The advisory committee's technophobia does not end with intelligence analysis. It would also require the defense secretary to give approval for, and certify the absolute necessity of, Google searches by intelligence agents. Even though any 12-year-old with a computer can freely surf the Web looking for Islamist chat rooms, defense analysts may not do so, according to the panel, without strict oversight.
I'm pretty keen on protecting privacy rights, but this is clearly a pendulum swing too far. From the Washington Post, found via ParaPundit (who has more to add).

Posted by David on June 9, 2004 1:01 PM

Comments

In this case, their caution is justified - query data sent to Google reveal a lot of information about the sender, and what the sender is interested in. Any compromised downstream computer would also be able to access this information. Thus, they're interested mainly in not leaking intelligence.

Posted by: Tom on June 9, 2004 4:59 PM
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