As part of a visit to the University of Haifa, Faculty of Law (where I'm teaching a course on Internet governance; media coverage here for those that read Hebrew), I participated yesterday in a terrific conference on the law of search engines.  While there was predictably considerable discussion on all things Google, particularly keyword disputes, competition, and digitization, I found it telling that concerns associated with user search query data emerged as an equally crucial concern.  Borrowing from John Battelle's The Search, the "database of intentions" clearly raises very significant legal issues including the privacy concerns highlighted by the AOL release of search data earlier this year and law enforcement desire for such information.  My presentation focused on how current legal rules may not provide an adequate solution to these issues, suggesting that more consideration is needed in balancing the great societal value with the unintended consequences created provided by effective search. This a major issue that will grow in prominence in 2007.