News this week that the Justice Department is asking a federal court to compel Google to turn over records of millions of its users’ search queries is shocking and disturbing. Worse yet, America Online, Yahoo and MSN have already complied with the subpoena.

For anyone who would rather not leave behind a trail of their search queries for government investigators to examine, there is a way to search Google and Yahoo anonymously — it is called Scroogle. Its search proxy sends your queries through Google and returns the results free of ads and cookies, circumventing Google’s tracking.

To learn more about Google and privacy, visit Scroogle’s companion site, Google Watch.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.