So I actually got on NPR's call-in today with Volokh and a privacy wonk. What I didn't get to ask was my killer question about expectations of privacy, and suddenly I realized that I was blogless, naked and only capable of filling 20 seconds of airtime.

In the end, I was disabused for trusting Google's ever expanding services. I should have, quoth the experts, no expectation of privacy when I share my information with private companies. What I really wanted to ask was 'What if I use Google Mail to speak to my attorney?'. What trumps what here?

My bank is a private company. My doctor's office is a private company. All of them use Oracle databases. So once the Feds have their nose into a company's databases who is to say what is a private medical record or what is a privileged conversation? We would not expect the Feds to start searching doctors offices and lawyers offices for evidence that porno could be gotten there. Of course it could be gotten there. So somehow in the universe of that which is searchable in the virtual world as well as the physical world, we are going to have to set up some doctors offices and lawyers offices where people do have a reasonable sense of privacy. Why? Because sometimes you have to get undressed in places other than your home, which is to say utterly frank about yourself. This should extend beyond those computers inside your home, just as it extends to buildings that are not your home.

This judge had better be wise when he hands down his judgement because I do have an expectation of privacy outside of my home. Just because the Feds are looking to stop porno doesn't mean they can walk around everywhere and start snooping. Google is everywhere, and that's the problem. They are something of a universal witness and yes witnesses are subject to subpoena, but what is reasonable search here?

What is the difference between a search engine and a broadcast network? If both are capable of delivering porno, does that give the Feds the right to see what percentage of those capable of recieving it are actually recieving it? Querying Google's back-end in this regard is like asking which households with children are also recieving porno through the tube. You've got to know that much to make a reasonable query... so what's going to be the sample size?

I don't like this one bit.

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