CNET is reporting that search engine giant Google has provided police information on users based on keyword searches.
Unsealed court documents disclosed the Google actions. The CNET report, published on Saturday, claims law officers requested the company to disclose the IP addresses of everyone who had looked up words relevant to their investigations.
The request for the IP addresses falls in a grey area of the law. Police usually would have to narrow their focus to an individual before serving a warrant for information on searches. But keyword warrants are outside the scope of current law language.
The troubling practice came to light when police in Florida investigated an incident where a woman who had accused singer R. Kelly of sexual assault had her car vandalized outside her home.
In the Florida case, that led to the arrest of Michael Williams, a relative of one of R. Kelly’s former publicists.
Williams’s attorney, Todd Spodek, is challenging the keyword warrants.