Google Announces Encrypted Search

Google has just announced the release of "Encrypted Search," allowing search users to prevent third parties from intercepting and viewing their search terms or search results. Although limited right now, this is a positive step by Google and a good example of how companies can use technology to improve--rather than erode--the privacy of their users. (Encrypted Search will eventually be available at https://www.google.com/ although it does not appear to be launched yet.)

It's important to note, as Google itself does, that Encrypted Search is limited in several ways. First, it only applies to "web" search; users cannot choose to search specifically for images, directions, or other types of content (though those links could be part of the search results). More importantly, SSL search only encrypts and protects the search query and results; it does NOT provide any sort of protection if you actually proceed to a website after finding what you're looking for.

And, of course, Encrypted Search only prevents third parties from seeing what you're searching for; it doesn't affect the information that Google itself stores about your searches. Your search records can say a lot about you: what you think and believe, where you go, and who you know. And due to our outdated privacy laws, law enforcement can and does demand these records from companies like Google.That's why the ACLU has both pushed Google to do more to protect search records and supported it when it has done so, and why the ACLU has joined Google and others in a coalition to tell Congress it's time for a privacy upgrade.

That said, today's announcement is a good example of how companies can use improving technology to better protect their users, one of the key points in our primer for businesses, Privacy and Free Speech: It's Good for Business. Google's privacy record is far from perfect, so we hope this is only the first step as Google provides more and better protection for users of search and other services via SSL encryption, better user controls, and other mechanisms that give you real control over your own personal information!