US Gov't, COPPA, and Search Engines, Is this taking things too far? Options

[*Libertie*]

I'm sure most of you have heard about the recent demand by the Bush administration for four major search sites to hand over data. The requested information included frequent search strings and over a million random websites. Out of those four, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo complied with no question while Google refused. Now Google is ready to fight these demands in court.

As a quick background, COPPA was rejected two years ago by the Supreme Court with the ruling that it conflicted with the first amendment. For those who don't know, it required adults to either use access codes or to register with pornographic websites, and several other means to protect children from illicit material. Now the Bush administration is making a desperate attempt to revive the Child Online Privacy Protection Act by proving to the courts that something needs to be done.

Of course, the biggest concern is that yes, the government isn't asking for personal information YET. But what's the next step, linking these search strings to IP addresses? This would actually lead officials to the people making these searches, and this is precisely the reason that Google is refusing to give up this information - they aren't asking for data now, but what about when they get this information? They might see the number of people using certain search strings that could lead to illegal activity and decide to crack down. I think that's a perfectly valid concern.

In my opinion, Google has every right not to comply, and this action by the government is taking it way too far. I would not be at all surprised if the next step was to then ask for IP addresses.

Anyway, for those who only read the first paragraph:

What do you think about COPPA? Should it be revived, and is this the right way to go about reviving it?
Should Google be forced to give up this information?
Do you think the government will eventually demand personally identifying data?

Yes, discuss then.