Technology

Do Your Google Searches Count As Speech? You Better Hope So.

Look... I can explain why William Jackson Harper is in my recent search history.

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Occasionally the government investigates using keyword searches. It’s a nifty little thing where they can walk up to, say, Google, request data of a kind (compilations of names searched, numbers, locations, etc.), and cull that information to hone in on potential suspects. Which means that at the time of the search, they don’t need a warrant specific to the individuals they end up narrowing information down to. There have been at least three done — the most recently known happened in a Wisconsin case — but there is no clue on how often this happens. This third instance only got out because the DOJ accidentally unsealed court records for a kidnapping case. Oops.

I just have a few questions.

How many of these secret search warrants are out there? Does this capability extend to investigations that are not related to sexual assault? Can we really trust officers to work in a space without constitutional oversight, given that the Constitution is a primary check that we have against unreasonable search and seizure? How specific does the request have to be before Google forks over the data? Could I be on a list merely for full name and number? Because I can explain. I’ve just been listening to Mike Jones (aka Michael Allen Jones) recently and wanted to see if he had the same number. Oh no, now I’m spiraling.

The ACLU is also concerned with these types of searches. If it were public knowledge that the government could do this, it would likely have a chilling effect on the things that people search for in the privacy of their homes. Yes. Even you reading this right now in your incognito window, Steven.[1] Traditional advocates of liberty are quick to point out the damages that can arise from government overreach, but if the behaviors of Google and Facebook are taken seriously enough, we may have to broaden the targets of our vigilance.

[1] I assume that few of you are reading this in an incognito window. I also acknowledge that a small set of you are burdened with the name Steven. But even if you fall into neither of those camps, I just want you to imagine how shook some guy named Steven reading this in his incognito window was reading that sentence.

Government Issuing ‘Keyword’ Warrants To Google That Request Info About Users Searching Certain Phrases [NY Daily News]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. Before that, he wrote columns for an online magazine named The Muse Collaborative under the pen name Knehmo. He endured the great state of Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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