Apparently, Yahoo! has been providing information to Chinese law enforcement that has enabled the government to jail political dissidents. Google and Microsoft have been engaging in similar behavior as well. Google made adjustments to their search algorithm to comply with China's restrictions on free speech. Microsoft shut down a popular blog at the request of the Chinese government. Not only are these companies enabling the Chinese government's policies of censorship, but they are also earning a hefty profit. At the very least, they should be punished in the court of public opinion.
In the US, the government is threatening to sue Google to get records of search queries. Ostensibly, this is to find and prosecute pornographists, which seems like a noble enough cause. But when does it become more than that? What if the data is stored and mined? What if the data is used to track down those less than thrilled with the government for monitoring people? I have conducted key word searches with strange combinations like "bomb" and "Al Qaeda", does that mean I would be watched?
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