[LINK] Non-Response by Google Costs (A Tiny Bit)
Roger Clarke
Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Sat Jan 7 12:18:49 AEDT 2012
French court frowns on Google autocomplete, issues $65,000 fine
By Jon Brodkin
Ars Technica
6 January 2012
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/french-court-frowns-on-google-autocomplete-issues-65000-fine.ars
A court in Paris, France has fined Google $65,000 because its search
engine's autocomplete feature brings up the French word for "crook"
when users type the name of an insurance company.
Google had been sued by insurance company Lyonnaise de Garantie,
which was offended by search results including the word "escroc,"
meaning crook, according to a story posted Tuesday by the Courthouse
News Service.
"Google had argued that it was not liable since the word, added under
Google Suggest, was the result of an automatic algorithm and did not
come from human thought," the article states. "A Paris court ruled
against Google, however, pointing out that the search engine ignored
requests to remove the offending word... In addition to the fine,
Google must also remove the term from searches associated with
Lyonnaise de Garantie."
A Forbes story says such a ruling is unlikely to occur in the US. But
it "sets a bad precedent for Google in Europe. There are quite a few
people and companies out there who may have suggestions for their
names that could be considered defamatory."
--
Roger Clarke http://www.rogerclarke.com/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/
Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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