I live in Northern California -- Home of the Tech-Wealthy White Guy and His Demi-Asian Wife. We're best known for our marijuana and holier than thou liberalism. Maybe it's because both only grow in very rich, bullshit-laden soil and a moist, moderate climate convenient to both skiing and surfing. But where else would I call home? Someplace with poor people?

Up here, much is being made of Google's refusal to provide the government with various search records because of concerns over users' privacy. AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo! have already complied with the government's request, so Google's move has bolstered their already heroic, "do no evil" image to positively angelic levels. It's the perfect Northern California story -- a high tech company that appears to be making a fuck load of money doing, um, something takes a liberal stance in the face of pressure from the big, bad, warmongering fascists in Washington.

So the public sentiment is strongly in support of Google's decision. And anyone who reads The Spoonbender regularly realizes that I'm not one to disagree with the public sentiment. I mean, what Google is doing is, very simply, the right thing to do. Who knows what personal information is contained in those searches? And, even if there's none, what will the government ask for next? The bottom line is that I don't want anyone knowing that I Google "superglued labia" on a semi-regular basis, and I'm sure you don't either. If that privacy means a few kids have to get diddled, then I say so be it. You've got to learn somehow, right?

But before we all get too high on our self-satisfaction and weed, let's not forget that Goggle's stance isn't always so inspiringly anti-establishment. Especially if you happen to be part of the unlucky 20% of the world's population living in China. Because if you are, Google's not all that interested in protecting your privacy. They're not even interested in providing you with information on little things like democracy, freedom, or the Dalai Lama. If you're one of those people and you want privacy, your best bet is to be a hot chick, to hop the first shipping container to San Francisco, and to troll the Best Buy parking lot for a geek in a Boxster.

Analogcabin @ 10:15 AM
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