Are you aware that your audit trail of internet searches has been subpoenaed?

I am paranoid, and with good reason.  my computer is girded roundabout with virus protection, firewall, spyware, no trace software and so on to guard against the scamps out there in cyberspace.

I check for spy cookies regularly during any session, because they can and do materialize regularly in the cookie jar on my computer as I visit websites.  They don’t live long on my system.

I also check for spy software before using my password to connect with my ISP, and so forth. 

Of course I can’t do anything about what happens on my ISP’s system, or out there on the internet.  I’ve always known that.
 
But to have to be afraid of our government spying on us?  Paranoid as I am, I’ve never given them the benefit of the doubt.  I know that any electronic tracks that I make can be collected and analyzed - and probably will be sooner or later. 

Looks like "sooner or later" has arrived, or at least been uncovered for public view.  It has just been revealed that Google has taken a huge hit on the stock market “… after it rebuffed a federal subpoena seeking data on consumer searches.  The Bush Administration says it just wants the info to support its push for on-line child-protection laws to crack down on porn.  Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft have complied with the subpoenas.” (IBD’s Top Ten,  Investor's Business Daily, Monday special, January 23, 2006).

Right!  Here we go again, casting the widest possible net to catch a miniscule number of miscreants with total disregard for the vast numbers of uninvolved American citizens scooped up as well.  Or, worse yet, with the real intent of gathering that huge collateral data mass to profile information on vast numbers of unsuspecting American citizens.

Yayhoo, AhOL and Microsofty rolled over compliantly and forked over vast electronic audit trails that may be processed electronically at lighting speeds in vast quantities to build a profile on you, even though the supposed intent of this fishing expedition has nothing to do with you.

I saw nothing about this in the news before Google dug its heels in.  There is so much secret spying going on by this government of ours that one must begin to suspect that a secret Gulag for any American that is in even the slightest disagreement with this secretive administration will be next.  In fact, one has to wonder if that Gulag already exists as yet another well kept secret to be learned only through some leak by a morally erect participant within this corrupt regime.

I suppose this collection of profile data on vast numbers of unsuspecting American citizens will once again be justified by 9/11 and the eternal War on Terrorism. 

Perhaps you have noticed that since 9/11 there has been a constant drumbeat for Americans to be afraid.  This has been used in turn to justify activities, often secret until a leak is sprung, that astounds any American that believes in the rule of law under our Constitution and Bill-of-Rights.

I heartily agree.  Americans should be afraid.  Americans should be very afraid.  While we sleep, our Constitutional Republic is being eaten alive from the inside by these anti-American forces.

Hang in there tough, Google.  It looks like the line of defense is now manned by the few,  the brave, the ethical in the private sector.