You may have known, or if not you should know, that Google tracks and records all your searches. All the pages you came from, what you searched for and where you went. This is done by useing a persistant cookie (Cookies and Privacy faq). (UPDATE: LINK REMOVED)
The information is stored by Google but there are only speculations as to how the information is used. No matter how Google intended to use the information it is doubtful that they expected that courts might subpoena their information.
In one amazing case Google “refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for one million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.” (Mercury News 18/1/2006).
OK – Google is attempting to refuse to hand over this information. However this does not mean that they will be able to refuse. In addition to this there is one question which seems particularly relevant. Why are they refusing to hand over this information? If they believe that any and all informtion should not be passed out then they are concerned with users privacy – this is however doubtful since they are themselves responsible for collecting the data in the first place.
If they disagree to this specific request but are in principle not against helping – this is a terribly civic minded approach however it raises grave concerns to many users. What happens when China asks for similar informaiton about computer users? What happens if your boss were to obtain all your searches – wha would such a picture say about you, and would it earn you a bonus?
The instance of organisations to collect data will always backfire. No matter the intended purpose of the data the process of function creep is inevitable. Technology and regulation is not the solution for this problem. The solution is to stop collecting the data. Or, in a perfect world, never to start collecting any data which is not absolutely necessary.