Searches – Learning from Google’s Response to the Department of Justice

As most know, Google has refused to comply with a Department of Justice subpoena for records related to queries entered into its search engine. What has not been discussed, in detail, is one of the grounds for Google’s objection: that the subpoena is overly broad, unduly burdensome and unlikely to lead to the production of relevant evidence. This is an important criteria for Internet infrastructure providers to remember. Civil litigants who don’t understand how your business works often subpoena information wildly unrelated to their goals. Understanding that you are not generally required to respond to subpoenas of that nature and developing a method of communicating that knowledge to the requesting party, may do a lot to minimize the amount of work you are required to do to comply with subpoenas of that type. Internet News Article