Ryan Singel:

On Thursday, The Mercury News reported that the Justice Department has subpoenaed search-engine records in its defense of the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA. Google, whose corporate credo famously includes the admonishment “Don’t Be Evil,” is fighting the request for a week’s worth of search engine queries. Other search engines have already complied.

The government isn’t asking for search engine users’ identifying data — at least not yet. But for those worried about what companies or federal investigators might do with such records in the future, here’s a primer on how search logs work, and how to avoid being writ large within them.

Google’s data mining tools are not without controversy. Battelle has more here.

Chris Oakley takes a “Minority Report” view of shopping malls. A well done, rather scar look at where we’re going.

Lessig:

This will be the next big copyright war — whether this form of noncommercial creativity will be allowed. But there will be a big difference with this war and the last (over p2p filesharing). In the p2p wars, the side that defended innovation free of judicial supervision was right. But when ordinary people heard both sides of the argument, 90% were against us. In this war, the side that will defend these new creators is right. And when ordinary people hear both sides, and more importantly, see the creativity their kids are capable of, 90% will be with us.