Pa. high court rules that police can access Google searches without a warrant

[Wrecker4923]

Content source

https://therecord.media/google-searches-police-access-without-warrant-pennsylvania-court-ruling

This news was posted on Privacy Guides about a week ago.

The "chilling" part is the court opinion:

The court noted that Google’s privacy policy is explicit about the fact that it will share search histories with third parties.

“In the case before us, Google went beyond subtle indicators,” the opinion says. “Google expressly informed its users that one should not expect any privacy when using its services.”

So watch out for any Google services that would be shared with third parties automatically. Even "democracies" with strong anti-search civil rights may search them at will, and be used as evidence in court.

I have already switched to using Brave Search, but I still occasionally need to fall back to Google .

 

[cartaphilus]

Great so now I will have to employ the "fortune cookie" method during my searches: add "in bed" to the end of every search query.

"What's today's weather in bed?"

"Will US illegally invade Venezuela under the pretext of drugs in bed?"

"Epstein, Ivanka and Trump in bed"

 

[Wrecker4923]

Yes, may you have an adventurous search (in bed) .

 

[cartaphilus]

Yes, may you have an adventurous search (in bed) .

Yes still trying to find my wife's clitoris, I think she left it in her purse.

 

[Sorrento]

In the case in the OP, the guy had really done wrong, but we all need to be careful on the net as in life, though ts beggars belief how much Google etc know & how this info can be used against potentially persecuted people who are trying to do the right thing in life?? Just my take

 

[TairikuOkami]

New Google Account management is really neat, unlike MS, everything is visible and manageable, you can disable search history, thus there is nothing to share.
One of the benefits of Google/MS account is that they have to follow privacy laws and thus they can not keep history, if you do not allow it, you are in control.

 

[ForgottenSeer 114717]

This news was posted on Privacy Guides about a week ago.

The "chilling" part is the court opinion:

So watch out for any Google services that would be shared with third parties automatically. Even "democracies" with strong anti-search civil rights may search them at will, and be used as evidence in court.

I have already switched to using Brave Search, but I still occasionally need to fall back to Google .

As Natalia Kaspersky has argued and substantiated for decades: "All data of any kind from any source belongs to the state."

I cannot agree more.

 

[lokamoka820]

I switched to the Startpage search engine, and I am trying to find alternatives to all the US-made software on my computer.

 

[Wrecker4923]

I am trying to find alternatives

Aiming for non-US software might be tougher/impossible (just think of the OS) . If just aiming for E2EE, the recommendations at Privacy Guides (which also lists Startpage) might help.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

You know I'm fine with this, because they were doing it anyway (under the table or through requests) and have always been co-operating with government agencies.

Sharing search data and queries is one thing, now if they were busted implanting malware (likely) or vulnerable code (which I believe they do anyway) that's a step to far.