Seth, Normally I concur with your positions but here I have to disagree. Two reasons why -- 1. Google doesnt need to be looking for positive PR right now and this can be way more trouble than it would ever be worth and number 2 is detailed here and its not a simple one paragraph explaination either.

http://pontiff.wordpress.com/2006/01/20/google-pr-quotient-just-doubled/

John, I have to disagree - this is no trouble at all. Again, it's an almost trivial request. It's one part of an expert's report which is one part of a big argument, and not a large part either. Look at how much press Google has gotten for making a fuss here. All they have to do is incant the magic words - Big Brother! - and everyone falls down praising them. People are being taken by the posturing.

You argument in fact is pretty much what I'm talking about - "power grab ... cover story ... guvment knowing what they search ...". It's in the same vein as the fakers who claim to be victims of police brutality to gain sympathy, it's manipulative.

If Google did this as a PR stunt it will certainly backfire, since it directs _lots_ of attention to the privacy issues and Google's lack of serious commitment to them.

You are probably right that not all commentators will bother to check if there is any personal information concerned with this particular request, and some commentators _will_ bother to check and write some sensationalist untruth anyway.

No matter what Google says I am now nervous about using it. With such a US government in power I feel less and less safe using US-based Internet systems. India (Brazil, whoever) please declare that you will respect user privacy and encourage your bright IT people to launch a Google substitute. This is a tremendous business opportunity for your country. I would switch tomorrow... Show the US what can happen when a mindless government erodes people's trust to one of its most important industries...

This is pure BS. One can prove anything by choosing the right search terms.

For an article in the late INDUSTRY STANDARD, I compared links retrieved for "sex" and "pornography" versus those retrieved for "God." God won, hands down. Maybe if I'd listed "pussy," "dick," or whatever thoughtful phrases will be thought up by the Justice Department -- it's so good at doing everything it condemns, like savaging our liberty -- it will get a more shocking result.

If anyone's using this for "good PR," it's the Bush Administration, which really knows how to fire up the blue noses, tent-preachers, and right-wing radio talk-show hosts.

If you don't get it, you don't get politics. Go watch WAG THE DOG again.