This really does not surprise me.
So much for “Don’t be evil.”
EXACTLY!
With a motto like that, what you expect?
I am shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you…
No, wait, what’s the other thing? Unsurprised.
I’m not surprised that Google handed the data over. There is a pretty good chance they had no choice.
What surprises me is Wikileaks relying on Google to keep their secrets. I have absolutely no sympathy for them. That was irresponsible and if I had something to leak, I sure as hell wouldn’t trust them with the information.
… yet sad.
well, it was legal and they werent allowed to tell. not sure what choices they had?
“legal” like slavery was legal…
So close to invoking Godwin…
Given that Google is now a fairly important defense contractor (robotics, among other things) I can’t see how this would surprise anyone. Expecting otherwise from them is pretty naive.
Exactly. From Article:
When it notified the WikiLeaks employees last month, Google said it had been unable to say anything about the warrants earlier as a gag order had been imposed.
They didn’t tell them because they legally could not.
And for the “Don’t do evil” crowd: do you seriously think that this is a Google-specific problem? That this doesn’t already happen to Microsoft, Yahoo!, Dropbox, and any other cloud service out there, being served silent AND public warrants? Come now.
The further argument is related to storing your data in servers that are run by US companies. Your online data is not safe, no matter where it’s stored - period. Encrypt it all you want, but the US government, any government, individual, etc can use force, coercion, or good old fashioned skill to decrypt, strongarm, steal, transfer, or extract your “private” data.
Four people have declared their lack of surprise. Is anyone really surprised to see so many “I’m not surprised” responses to this story? I’m not. I’m not surprised. I mean, really, what did I expect? 
Well, if they had nothing to hide…
How about those libraries that have a sign saying “We have not been asked to turn-over our borrowing records to any Federal Agency” that they take down as warranted.
Or library. Real, I believe, and not theoretical.
I’m surprised the people at wikileaks acted so negligently. Does that count?
Google took down their sign years ago. It’s no secret that they have had to comply with court orders demanding user data.
Regardless of your opinion of wikileaks, I think it was important as well. It did involve documents that were confidential (whether you think they should be or not) and definitely illegal to release. There was an investigation that included everyone associated with wikileaks, and used specific, legally obtained search warrants. Request for their emails and online activity through google are not overly broad, they are very explicit in fact, hardly a dragnet like the NSA is doing. There is no service provider/user confidentiality, like doctors or lawyers, so they have to comply with the court order, including the gag order. The financial recorders would have been obtained from the banks, and no one seems to question this practice which is routinely done, so once again totally legal.
We all should be outraged by the real overreaches like the NSA, but we do actually want law enforcement to do their actual jobs and do it properly and legally. In this case it was, and that’s what we want to support. Besides, none of these guys were arrested or charged with anything, which means that the investigation didn’t find them to have done anything criminal, which everyone here believes they didn’t do. It seems you have the same opinion as the FBI 
They didn’t say they relied on Google.
