Are Search Engine Results Protected by the First Amendment?

According to UCLA law prof Eugene Volokh the answer is "yes." "Google commissioned me to write this White Paper (“First Amendment Protection for Search Engine Search Results“), so I thought I’d pass it along. I wrote the paper as an advocate, and not as a disinterested academic, but I hope some of our readers might find it interesting nonetheless," wrote Eugene Volokh yesterday.

It certainly sounds like it will make for interesting reading. The paper quickly caught the attention of the media. See, for example, Wired's Threat Level post by Kim Zetter, Jeff John Roberts' paidContent post and Lance Whitney's CNET post for starters. {JH]