Google Loses Autocomplete Defamation Case

superglaze writes "Google has been found liable in an Italian court for defamatory comments made against an anonymous plaintiff — the complainant's name, when googled, elicited autocomplete suggestions that translate as 'con man' and 'fraud.' Google was found not to qualify for EU 'safe harbour' protection because the autocomplete suggestions were deemed to be Google's own creation, and not something merely passing through its systems."

Comments

Re:Poor cop-out

[frinkster]

Replying to my own post:

The Google Blacklist

Obviously, all you have to do is hit return to get the results like you always could. However, even when your request isn't blacklisted, you're not getting the SAME results that you would get by hitting return. Entering "murder" into the search bar and hitting a space gets you suggestions of mostly band names. It's only after you hit return that you can learn the other sinister meaning of the word. What we have here is a demonstration of how content can be filtered, controlled, and ultimately suppressed. It is indeed a good thing that Google isn't evil.

The algorithm was designed to keep this stuff from happening. This case was nothing more than a simple oversight on Google's part. Their response was poor and arrogant.

Re:Time to cut them off...

[marcello_dl]

Italy is ruled by a guy who owns television stations, and internet is its competition.
The famous French guy who said "never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity" is simply plain wrong again.