Businessman sues Google for defamation
p2pnet view Freedom | P2P:- In a variation to claims by Canadian businessman Wayne Crookes that linking to a story amounts to publishing it, a 61-year-old small business owner in Sweden is suing US advertising giant Google for defamation.
Google has “long presented search results to blogs that portray him as a paedophile” and “identified his company as one that has engaged in shady transactions”, says man in The Local.
He now wants one million kronor ($137,200) in damages for the financial losses he has incurred from the negative publicity, says the story, quoting Dagens Media.
“Through the lawsuit, he hopes to examine whether Google in Sweden can republish information that may constitute criminal defamation under the Swedish Penal Code”, it says, going on >>>
“Google hides behind the fact that it itself does not publish any material, but serves as a database that picks up what others have written,” the man told Dagens Media.
The man admitted the chances of winning against Google are slim.
“I believe the odds are pretty bad. Google has so much money. It is so big. It cannot afford to lose such a trial,” he told Dagens Media. “It would mean that Google would have to take responsibility for everything they publish.”
The man hopes his lawsuit will lead to a debate about the search engine’s responsibilities.
“This will cost me hundreds of thousands of kronor if I lose,” he said. “However, I will still go through with it and I hope that it can start a debate.”
Google Nordic PR manager Andreas Svenungsson is quoted as saying, “We have not been served anything and cannot comment on anything specific. Generally, it is important to remember that Google’s search results are a reflection of what is found on the internet. To remove links in Google’s indexing does not mean that it disappears from the internet. Occasionally, Google removes links to illegal content and those who wish to report such content can follow the steps here.”
In the Canadian p2pnet case, Vancouver businessman Wayne Crookes is trying to have the decision by BC Supreme Court judge Stephen Kelleher that linking is not the same as publishing reversed.
He’s been given permission to appeal it to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The initial ruling will “probably turn out to be round one of the battle between Vancouver businessman and ex-Green Party of Canada official Wayne Crookes, and those of us who believe freedom of speech online is a right, not a privilege”, I posted in p2pnet last year.
Jon Newton - p2pnet
..
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi The Local – Swedish man sues Google for defamation, April 29, 2010 Canadian case – Crookes v p2pnet link case goes to Supreme Court, April 1, 2010
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/feed
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Click here to learn what technologies might help you bypass censorship in your area.
Swedish man sues Google for defamation
