This is cool information to know about, however the knowledge of it by everyone probably means that it will become a less effective means of catching persons that are doing illegal/wrong things.
This is where I think that reporters need to use some judgement in reporting information. Does getting the information out there for readership outweigh the benefits of not reporting the information. It doesn't sound like Google is doing anything illegal. In fact, it appears that Google is doing something proactive to catch wrong doers.
The courts will have to decide if this is an illegal use of the information that Google has access to.
Slashdot Mirror
This is cool information to know about, however the knowledge of it by everyone probably means that it will become a less effective means of catching persons that are doing illegal/wrong things. This is where I think that reporters need to use some judgement in reporting information. Does getting the information out there for readership outweigh the benefits of not reporting the information. It doesn't sound like Google is doing anything illegal. In fact, it appears that Google is doing something proactive to catch wrong doers. The courts will have to decide if this is an illegal use of the information that Google has access to.