Google Throws Out US Data Demand

Google has formally rejected a demand from the US government to hand over a week’s worth of search records. The rejection was made in court documents Google filed in response to official demands for search data.

In the strongly-worded papers Google said the request would violate the privacy of its users and reveal trade secrets to its rivals. It also added that handing over the data was impractical and would not accomplish what the government wanted.

BBC News - Google throws out US data demand

Google described the lengths it goes to to protect its search algorithms from competitors, including not disclosing the number of computers it uses to run the search engine, the number of queries processed in a day, the type of browsers those queries are entered on and the nature of the search strings people type in.

"The very fact that the Government is so uninformed about the value of search and URL information and so dismissive of Google’s interest in protecting it speaks volumes about why the Court should protect Google from this compelled disclosure,” the company wrote.

Silicon Valley - Google dissects U.S. claim