Back in January, I wrote about two examples in the media of reporters incorrectly characterizing the subpoena that the Department of Justice had served on Google as being aimed at uncovering child pornography. In reality, the subpoena was part of an effort by the Federal Government to revive the Child Online Protection Act, a law which required all commercial distributors of “adult” material to put in place safeguards to ensure that the material could not be accessed by minors. This law was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2002 and the government is now seeking to revive it by proving the conventional filtering technologies are not sufficient to keep minors from accessing pornography.
Well, we’ve got another example of the media getting the news wrong. This time, its the New York Times which reprints this Reuters story with the headline “Google Ordered to Submit Data For Child Pornography Study.”
SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (Reuters) ? As expected, a federal judge ruled on Friday that Google, the Internet search engine, must turn over some search data including 50,000 Web addresses to the government for a study of child pornography online.
Nowhere in the article is COPA, or the fact that it has already been determiend to be unconstititional, even mentioned. The distinction is important. Child pornography is illegal, as it should be. The material that COPA is addressed to is perfectly legal. Characterizing the government’s subpoena as directed at child pornography makes Google’s resistence look just a little creepy, when the truth is very much different.
But then, when did the truth matter to the New York Times ?
Previous Posts:
The Latest On The Google Subpoena
Getting The News Wrong
Bush Administration Seeking Google Search Data
Technorati Tags: Google Subpoena, Google, Internet Freedom, Privacy
