Can your search terms be used against you ?

A chilling possibility - You most likely know that Google saves all your search terms. You might know that they can trace the searches back to you. You probably know that they have a neat privacy policy over using this data. You wished you never knew that with a mere subpoena, the government can and will use this information against you in the court of law...

From the editorial at the New York Times (registration required) -
"At a North Carolina strangulation-murder trial this month, prosecutors announced an unusual piece of evidence: Google searches allegedly done by the defendant that included the words "neck" and "snap." The data were taken from the defendant's computer, prosecutors say. But it might have come directly from Google, which - unbeknownst to many users - keeps records of every search on its site, in ways that can be traced back to individuals"

Should we start to seriously reconsider the search terms we use ?

(Saw that on Schneier's)