Judge blocks demand for Google records

A federal judge Friday denied a Justice Department demand for the Internet search queries of Google Inc. users in a closely watched case testing the limits of online privacy.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose, Calif., was a victory for Google, which argued that handing over the records would violate the privacy of people who might scour the Internet with terms as diverse as “best actor nominees,” “third trimester abortion” or “pipe bomb.”

Although Ware required Google to reveal some information about the Web sites in its database, he ordered the government to reimburse the Mountain View, Calif.-based company for the staff time and expense required to comply.

Privacy advocates cheered the decision as a check on the Bush administration’s efforts to collect information about people, but noted that the trove of personal data gathered and stored by sites like Google was irresistible to investigators.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales issued subpoenas to Google and three other top Internet companies last year, seeking potentially billions of search queries as part of an investigation into online pornography.

The other companies – Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online – complied at least in part. Google executives balked and the case became a test of the government’s reach in the Internet Age.