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Not really. The point is the police are trying to solve a case of attempted fraud by asking Google for all searches for a particular name within a particular time period, based on the fact that searching for that name in Google Images comes up with the images used on the fake passport. The story is reporting that they're asking specifically for searches made by people in a particular city, but that detail is pretty incidental to the story itself.

And again, please stop calling this "fake news" just because it contains a mistake. I've already explained that this is not at all what that phrase means.




"Police ask for whole city's Google searches, and a judge says yes"

Fake news. The title is entirely false.

"The people of Edina probably don't know it, but they're doing battle with the Edina Police Department over the right to online privacy."

Fake news. The people of Edina are not the targets of the warrant.

"The cops are winning."

Be afraid! Cops are winning... something.

"a Hennepin County judge has granted the Edina Police Department an extraordinary degree of access to citizens' Google history"

More fake news. Completely fabricated misrepresentation of the truth. The cops have no access to their general search history at all.

"Of course, people's Google search history not only isn't public, it's not usually available to local cops trying to bust a small-time swindler."

Fake news. Google is "bombarded" by user data requests from government.

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-were-bombarded-by-govt-requ...

The article is fake news. The title is fake news. The content is fake news.


Stop calling it fake news! It's a real story that's been misinterpreted by the journalist. That doesn't make it fake. That just makes it an error.

Fake news is stories that are made up. This story isn't made up. It's just erroneous.

Why do you keep insisting on incorrectly using the term "fake news" for this?


Let's recap:

- Misinterpreted real story, i.e. misinformation. - Clickbaity eye-catching headline, i.e. deliberate attempt to inflate readership and sharing.

AFAIK writing misinformation so it will spread falls into the realm of fake news.


IMO there's a difference between fake news and opionated news. Fake news is stories like Ted Cruz's father being involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. There's nothing factually true in the story itself. This is an article that reports true facts and tries to subvert them to serve an agenda. Almost all mainstream media outlets do this to varying degrees. But that doesn't make this article fake news. Clickbaity title and opionated reporting != fake news.


Reality: Cops provide weak probable cause for warrant, judge gives rubber stamp. They might catch a criminal if their hunch is right and Google doesn't push back due to the expense of the inquiry.

Fake news: Cops are raiding the search history of the citizens of Edina! Privacy rights are in great peril! Porn viewing habits might even be exposed!

That's more than erroneous. That's fabrication. Complete falsehood. It is not a real story. It has no basis in reality. Clickbait title. Mainly designed to drive traffic for ad revenue. It's the very definition of fake news.




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