Google: 9 Points
Why isn't Google at 10 points? After all, they are the ones who stood up against the Department Of Justice. A couple of reasons for the one point loss:
I'd be happier if they'd shared with the world that they'd been subpoenaed back when it happened last year. That information could have been made public, and it should have been.
Google also looked to be negotiating on compliance. We don't have enough details to know why they ultimately didn't give in, but some changes, and perhaps they might have.
So, not a perfect score -- but overall, high, high points.
Yahoo: 4 Points
Since they complied, I feel they have to be below the 5 point mark. OK, how trustworthy were they then in the after-the-fact statement? At first, they tried to make it seem they didn't comply by saying they gave no personal information out. Since no personal information was asked for, that was a non-answer. But almost immediately a revised statement fessed up.
AOL: 1 Points
"We did not -- and would not -- comply with such a subpoena." Except they did. Like Yahoo, they ran for the cover of saying they gave out no personal information. Instead, they just gave out some "search terms" -- which is what the subpoena asked for. That's compliance in part, and a loss of trust points for not being more forthright about what happened.
MSN: 1 Point
Like a loser in the Eurovision song contest, null points to MSN. They issued a non-statement, neither confirming or denying anything. Instead, we get the Department Of Justice saying they complied. They should have just fessed up from the beginning. That might have salvaged some trust out of the mess.
Postscript: In light of the most recent post on the MSN blog, I'll bring MSN Search up to match AOL. They took ages on the public relations side to say they complied, but the blog is direct and more forthright about it. What a difference it would have made if they'd been allowed to say that yesterday.
Ask Jeeves: Didn't Get To Play
I can only imagine the situation at Ask Jeeves. They had to be relieved they were never asked, so avoided the entire fracas. But not being asked means the US government doesn't think they count much as a search player -- so they probably also wish they had been involved!
What They Should Have Done
Just some tips for the search engine spinmeisters. Here's what you should have sent out:
AOLMSGooHoo did provide a list of URLs and search terms in response to the subpoena. We reviewed the request and determined that we could cooperate without any harm to the privacy of our users. We would have preferred not to have been given a legal summons and have serious doubts if the information will help the US government determine what it seeks. However, we felt our time was not best spent fighting on this front. Rest assured that if personal information had been at stake, we would have vigorously fought to defend the privacy of our users, to the degree the law allows.
The better answer, of course, would have been to fought the request in the first place.
In the end, one of the biggest ironies is that the other search engines failed to capitalize on Google's biggest weakness, that it might not be trustworthy. I wrote back in 2002 about how Google was going to face a challenge of being seen as too Microsoftish, too dominant a player.
Ironically, that put Microsoft itself in the enviable situation of counter-balance to Google. Rather than being the evil player, it was the player along with Yahoo that many hoped would restore some balance to the search space.
Had Microsoft said no, it would have scored major points for trust. But to say yes -- then not even admit to saying yes -- just makes Google seem better and better to many people.
Want to comment or discuss? Please visit our Search Engine Watch Forums thread, Bush Administration Demands Search Records.
