Suit filed over hiring of lawyer by Google

Google Inc.'s hiring of a former Justice Department official as its senior privacy lawyer has prompted a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which wants to know more about her selection.

Jane Horvath was appointed in February 2006 as the department's first chief privacy and civil liberties officer, according to a complaint filed against the department Tuesday in federal court in Washington. She left 18 months later to join Google.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation seeks records of all correspondence, e-mail and other communications between Horvath and Mountain View, Calif.-based Google before she took her new job.

The foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes civil liberties issues, said it asked for the information under the Freedom of Information Act more than six months ago and hasn't received a response.

"Google has an unprecedented ability to collect and retain very personal information about millions of Americans, and the DOJ and other law enforcement agencies have developed a huge appetite for that information," foundation Senior Counsel David Sobel said in a statement.

"We want to know what discussions DOJ's top privacy lawyer had with Google before leaving her government position to join the company."

In January 2006, the Justice Department demanded that Google turn over customer information for use in enforcing laws against pornography. In a subsequent news article, Horvath was critical of the initial subpoena, saying she had privacy concerns about it, according to the complaint.

Barry Schnitt, a Google spokesman, didn't return a phone call seeking comment. Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller declined to comment.

Google fell $22.25, or 4.6 percent, to $464.19 in Nasdaq stock market trading. The shares have fallen 33 percent this year.