On the other hand, such a log itself could be misused once it is disclosed. Not everything is as obviously bad as Cointelpro’s pursuit of MLK. It is often unclear whether surveillance of certain activities discredits the people engaging in them, or the spies. The Maryland fusion center spied on anti-death penalty activists–but as far as I know suffers zero negative consequences for that (while I’m sure anyone who hears that story will think twice about becoming an anti-death-penalty activist.) These are incredibly difficult issues.

My worry is that search engines essentially become instrumentalities of the state, ala the Birnhack/Elkin-Koren “invisible handshake,” the Hoofnagle “big brother’s little helpers” theory, or the Jon Michaels’ “all the president’s spies” approach. As that integration of state and corporate power continues, corporations need to be subject to the same type of APA/due process/openness rules now constraining the state. Sadly, the opposite appears to be happening–corporations are using expansive notions of trade secrecy to hide their actions from scrutiny, reminiscent of the “state secrets” privilege described here:
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2009/09/25/03