Like any other company, Google is constantly embroiled in legal action. However, this case seems to set a dangerous precedent for the way you interact on the Internet.
A defamation lawsuit has forced Google to “audit” the content of its searches. The company has already appealed against this decision.
Google warns of "catastrophic" impact on the Internet if the 2020 court ruling is not overturned. There is a problem with the search result in the company's search engine that leads to the link containing the defamatory content.
In 2004, three people murdered in Melbourne, Australia, were mistaken for gang killers, and the name of the law firm representing them appeared in an article on the Internet. Age In a contemptuous tone.
However, the charges were dropped in 2005 and attorney George Deftros filed a defamation suit seeking to have Google remove the link that led users to the 2004 article from its search results. The article notes that George Deftrose "was comfortable with Melbourne's criminal underworld."
The judge, who assessed the case, backed up a lawyer who demanded that Google pay $ 40,000 in damages and remove the link to the site.
Google refuses to "censor" the Internet
A Google is asking now The reassessment of the case and warns of the danger of this decision, gives the whole of the Internet. From the company's point of view, being in trouble is one of the basic building blocks of the Internet.
"A hyperlink is not a communication of what it is connected to," the company said in its petition to the High Court. Google says that if the 2020 ruling is upheld, "the publisher will be responsible for anything published on the Internet that provides hyperlinks to your search results."
In safety, the company points out A 2011 result The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a hyperlink should never publish defamatory material.