Here is a stupid conviction against Google and its CEO. A French court has ruled that Google was guilty of defamation because a boy who typed his name into the search engine was offered the word 'rapist' as a suggested search option. Google has vowed to appeal the conviction.
Clearly in order to be a defamatory comment the comment must be shared with others so that there is some impact; there must be some plausibility of causation; and there must be some discernible impact on the child. Any parent who came to know the child was exposed to the word has the power to manage how the child uses the site, and of course whether they are able to know the meaning of the word.
I ought to be confident that the conviction will be overturned....but there is no knowing in this world. Might this be a case of a judge or jury using the legal system to achieve what it purports to be desirable outcomes.
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Author
Andrew Sheldon
