If you've ever jokingly wondered if your search or browsing history might end up on some sort of list, your fears may be more than justified.
In court documents, which are currently unsealed, forbesGoogle has been ordered to hand over the names, addresses, phone numbers, and user activity of YouTube accounts and IP addresses that watched some YouTube videos as part of a large-scale criminal investigation by federal investigators.
These videos were sent to a crypto laundering suspect under the username “elonmuskwhm” in an undercover operation. In a conversation with a Bitcoin trader, the investigator sent a link to a public YouTube tutorial on mapping with drones and augmented reality software. forbes detail. The video has been viewed more than 30,000 times, likely by thousands of users unrelated to the incident.
Google, YouTube's parent company, was ordered by federal investigators to secretly hand over all viewer data from January 1, 2023 to January 8, 2023. forbes It could not be confirmed whether Google complied.
Users can enjoy Google's AI search results without prompting
Privacy experts say the requirement to collect data is itself concerning. Federal investigators argue that the request is legally justified because the data is “relevant and material to ongoing criminal investigations, including providing identifying information about perpetrators.” cited the same justification used by other police departments. In a case in New Hampshire, police requested similar data during an investigation into a bomb threat he had streamed live on YouTube. The order specifically requested viewer count information at specific timestamps during the live broadcast.
“In response to the demands of all law enforcement agencies, we have a system designed to support the critical work of law enforcement while protecting the privacy and constitutional rights of our users,” Google spokesperson Matt Bryant said in a statement. “We have a rigorous process.” forbes. “We consider each request for legal validity as case law develops, and we oppose requests for user data that are too broad or inappropriate, including opposing some requests outright. We regularly push back against it.”
But privacy experts are concerned about what kind of precedent the court's order will set, citing concerns about First and Fourth Amendment protections. “This is the latest chapter in a disturbing trend in which government agencies are increasingly converting search warrants into digital dragnets,” Albert Foxkahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Surveillance Project, told the magazine. “This is unconstitutional, it's horrible, and it happens every day.”
Advocates have urged Google to be more transparent about its data-sharing policies, citing concerns over years of public arrests of protesters and the growing criminalization of abortion across states. I asked for it.
In December, Google updated its privacy policy to allow users to store their location data directly on their devices instead of in the cloud, and shorten the retention period for such storage. The new policy also indirectly thwarted investigative workarounds that law enforcement agencies have long used. Authorities are using Google's location data to target suspects.
Google has been taken to court over these concerns over the past year, including two state Supreme Court cases challenging the constitutionality of keyword search warrants that force sites to hand over personal Internet search data.