While the other internet sheep like Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL meekly complied with the government's outrageous demand for millions of users' searches, Google resisted. While the rest of the pack claimed, "Resistance is futile," Google pushed back.

The government saved face, with a token judgment requiring Google to hand over 50,000 URLs that it has indexed. But this was down from the hundreds of millions (or possibly billions?) that it originally demanded. And most importantly, Google will not surrender any user searches which would have violated the privacy of everyone who used Google in a two-month period.

While the government argued that search keywords don't violate privacy since they don't contain the user's identity, this is baloney. After all, search queries themselves contain personally identifiable information - [john smith arrest record], and suspicious-looking search queries could trigger a second round of subpoenas to identify the searchers - [avoid taxes offshore].

In the end, Google's resistance paid off in several ways. First, Google protected the privacy of their users. Second, the judge set a precendent that the government does not have carte blanche to go on massive fishing expeditions. Third, Google is not an extension of law enforcement to be trivially tapped at will.

And finally, resistance is not futile. Standing up for what's right even when it's easier to quietly comply is important. The Don't Be Evil ethic works. If only Google had the same backbone with China.