The Bush administration has asked a federal judge to compel Google to turn over vast amounts of information from its databases, saying it needs Google's records to figure out how frequently pornographic material comes up during online searches, reports the Mercury News (via Techdirt). The government's move is ostensibly an attempt to revive a child-protection law - which would have penalized websites that allow minors to access pornographic content - that was struck down by the Supreme Court two years ago. The government has apparently said other search engines (not named) have agreed to release information.

In papers filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, the Justice Department said Google has not complied with a subpoena to release the records, including 1 million "random" web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

Google has refused to do so, saying it would violate the privacy rights of users and reveal trade secrets. "Google is not a party to this lawsuit, and the demand for the information is overreaching," said Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel for Google.

"The government can't even claim that it's for national security," according to one privacy advocate. "They're just using it to get the search engines to do their research for them in a way that compromises the civil liberties of other people."