Ironically, the general consensus in the valley is that Google does not value their engineers, but rather overworks them. Meanwhile, Yahoo has been named one of the best companies to work for in the US.
What the other search engines supplied was simply a list of queries. There was nothing personally identifiable in them, unless you were searching for yourself.
In fact, the search engine companies routinely get subpoenas for data, and routinely comply with them. Google (as some of their own employees would even posit) simply had the marketing foresight to turn this into a big publicity stunt. Brilliant in some ways.
This is all about image. Realistically, ALL of the major players have it in their best interest to actually protect privacy. Google "put up a fight" to protect non personally idenifiable info just to improve their declining reputation (e.g., the China decision).
Slashdot Mirror
Ironically, the general consensus in the valley is that Google does not value their engineers, but rather overworks them. Meanwhile, Yahoo has been named one of the best companies to work for in the US.
In fact, the search engine companies routinely get subpoenas for data, and routinely comply with them. Google (as some of their own employees would even posit) simply had the marketing foresight to turn this into a big publicity stunt. Brilliant in some ways.
This is all about image. Realistically, ALL of the major players have it in their best interest to actually protect privacy. Google "put up a fight" to protect non personally idenifiable info just to improve their declining reputation (e.g., the China decision).
"Wag the Dog", anyone?