So, does the double "o" in google stand for 007?

Are you familiar with "quid pro quo?" It means to trade something of value for something of value. It seems "Google approached the NSA shortly after the attacks" (the China cyber attacks) and asked them to help. Do you know what the NSA is? It is the National Security Agency (http://www.nsa.gov/). They are tracking absolutely everything we write and everything we do online. Are you scared? Well, if you are a criminal, you should be. And, if you make online purchases, searches, emails, blogs... you should be... maybe.

In contrast to the image we have from movies and television of an FBI agent placing a listening device on a target’s phone line, the NSA intercepts entire streams of electronic communications containing millions of telephone calls and e-mails. It runs the intercepts through very powerful computers that screen them for particular names, telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and trigger words or phrases. Any communications containing flagged information are forwarded by the computer for further analysis.

"Big Brother Is Listening" -April 2006 Atlantic, James Bramford

What is the government getting for their service? Are they getting access to the algorithms Google uses to return search results in so quickly? That does not really concern me because that may help them filter the data quickly and efficiently and get to the information they need.

What does concern me is "the Supreme Court decided in 1970, if a third party has your information, you don't have an expectation of privacy and therefore the fourth amandment does not apply to that information." (see documentary video from MSNBC/CNBC below) There are companies that collect evertything we say and do online and it is recorded/cached (companies such as Acxiom). My concern is "data-mining" and privacy. Basically, companies can "mine" their databases to create psychographic profiles of their customers and market to them; the more data, the better the profile. So, if Homeland Security has a theory about a certain group of people that they think wants to harm the US, could they plug in a search based on a psychological profile now to find who has been searching for such things that match that profile on Google? Do they now have access to gmail accounts? It is a long shot, but our privacy should be a priority.

Here is the Washington Post article that talks about Google and the NSA: Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks
By Ellen Nakashima
Thursday, February 4, 2010; A01

This is a documentary (with commercials) I first saw on CNBC. It is a couple of hours long, but is has a lot of information regarding privacy and business in the digital age. "Big Brother, Big Business" Recorded Nov 1, 2006. If that doesn't work, try this link.