When Microsoft and Yahoo complied with the DoJ’s request for search data they did not turn over any personally identifiable data, so they claim.

“Google’s acceding to the request would suggest it is willing to reveal information about those who use its services,” Ashok Ramani, a lawyer representing Google, said in a letter to the Justice Department. “This is not a perception that Google can accept.”

The move to web-based applications and centralised information storage has raised many concerns not only with privacy advocates, but those concerned with security. Phising and hacking are already big threats to online users. Un-warrented Government intrusions simply add to the mess.

Forget search history, Google is already storing massive levels of e-mail data on their servers. Its not inconceivable that every e-mail you send and recieve in your whole life could be stored in a centralized location. Thats a goldmine not only for criminal investigators but also civil suits and hackers.

I believe the solution is a user-side encryption key, perhaps a USB stick, that allow users to store their online data using high-level encryption. Yet even this raises problems. Google likes to read their data. Terabytes upon terabytes of information allows for deep data mining and the ability to extract all kinds of statistics to help make their company more profitable.

Whatever the future holds for Google and the other search engines, consumers are going to demand security as we move to a global desktop. Too bad there are probably hundreds of patent holders ready to sue the first company that actually brings a workable solution to consumers.