US judge challenges government attorneys over request for Google data

A US federal judge has challenged government attorneys over whether a Justice Department subpoena for Google's search data would be a burden on the Internet search leader.

Google's attorney said the government was overreaching, but added that the government request had been scaled back. It may well be that the case will be settled by Google accepting a much scaled back request for data by the US government.

And the US government has indicated that their study could go ahead without the Google data - though of course they would prefer it.

Google's shares bounced up on the news proving just how much everyone values Google's reputation building as a trusted third party keeper of your most private and valuable personal data.

Storing and oprganizing consumer data is Google's future so handling this case well is critical for them. Today bodes well, but there's a way to go yet.