Cross-posted to my own blog

I've been thinking about the comments I received to my Google and Facebook posts, as well as some related posts and articles (the article's worth reading, btw) by other people from the last few days. I want to make one more point about this privacy stuff, and then move on for a while

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I wrote this post on my own blog as a follow-up to a previous post about Facebook, Internet advertising, and privacy. I think there's definitely a political side to these concerns, though, so I wanted to share it with the political blogs too. Your feedback is very welcome!

I have a lot of personal affection for Google. They're a pretty cool company, they have a nice Northern California vibe, they do a lot of good, I like the April Fool's jokes, I think they'd be a fun place to work, and just yesterday I noticed myself gushing about how awesome is Google Calculator (answer: very awesome). But, as I mentioned in my Facebook post from a few weeks ago, I also have significant reservations about Google that I would like to put in writing. So, please follow me below the fold for more!

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(Cross-posted at Clintonistas for Obama)

Katie Couric interviewed Joe Biden to get his take on Roe v. Wade and the issue of privacy in the Constitution.  Privacy, of course, is a touchy subject with conservatives.  The Constitution does not by name grant a right to it, but liberals cite the 9th Amendment, which reserves rights not named in the Constitution to the states and the people, and the 14th Amendment's liberty clause as sources that found an argument for an inherent privacy right.  The right to privacy was a fundamental legal argument in the decision of Roe v. Wade.  Anyway, Couric contrasted Palin's whacky and adorable answers with Couric's interview with the lucid and commanding Joe Biden.  This is the result; here is a video from TPMtv:

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As part of its $1 Billion lawsuit against Google, the parent company of YouTube, a judge has ordered the video sharing site to hand over its entire database containing the history of all user actions, including what videos each visitor has watched and uploaded. This database includes users' IP addresses and their usernames, if applicable. This decision represents a hideous breach of privacy and brings to light several very important, and scary, issues.

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The State Department says employees who improperly accessed the passport files of the three major presidential candidates were guilty of "imprudent curiosity." It makes one wonder how many other employees or independent contractors in the vast federal bureaucracy are similarly curious. How it could be so easy to improperly access passport files that imprudently curious employees can do so on a whim during training sessions. Were they being trained in domestic surveillance? Do they have similar access to restricted files while on their coffee breaks? How about at home? It's disconcerting that senior State Department officials only learned of this incident after a reporter contacted them about it. It suggests they don't run a very tight ship when it comes to guarding Americans' personal information. This from the administration that so desperately wants to implement the Real ID Act, a law that would consolidate Americans' DMV records into a network of interlinking databases accessible to the federal government and bureaucrats throughout the 50 states and U.S. territories. These records, possibly including digital copies of birth certificates, Social Security cards and other sensitive documents, would be accessible to thousands of state and federal bureaucrats - some of whom are certain to be imprudently curious. The Bush administration has made sure there are no limits in place in the amount of information kept in the Real ID database. The potential for abuse is boundless. This is one of many reasons why the New York Civil Liberties Union is fighting to block the implementation of the Real ID Act in New York and throughout the country. Government bureaucrats can and do make mistakes. Our lawmakers should do everything possible to ensure that Americans' personal information is secure. They could start by repealing the Real ID Act.