Google Sued Over Child Porn

"Google has made child pornography an "obscenely profitable and integral part" of its business and must be stopped, a new lawsuit claims.


Jeffrey Toback and Child Porn Lawsuit
Jeffrey Toback, a Democratic representative in New York's Nassau County Legislature, charged in a complaint filed Thursday that Google has been taking in billions of dollars by allowing child pornography and "other obscene content" operators to advertise their sites through sponsored links, which are tailored to a user's search terms and automatically accompany search results. The suit was filed in the New York Supreme Court."

Legislator Toback has also proposed a law to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products in Nassau County from 18 to 19. Called TOBACCO 19, the law would make it more difficult for younger teenagers to “pass” for the legal age, adding a substantial obstacle to their purchasing tobacco products. Yes, let's punish legal adults because some minors look older than they should.

Among other allegations, the complaint evoked the politically volatile topic of the search engine's dealings in China.

"Defendant is willing to accede to the demands of the Chinese autocrats to block the search term 'democracy,'" the complaint states, "but when it comes to the protection and well-being of our nation's innocent children, Defendant refuses to spend a dime's worth of resources to block child pornography from reaching children."

And exactly what does Google's china business have to do with child porn. I think Legislator Toback has a hard time staying focused.

A Google representative said Friday that the company prohibits child pornography in its products and removes all such content whenever the company finds or is made aware of it. "We also report it to the appropriate law enforcement officials and fully cooperate with the law enforcement community to combat child pornography," spokesman Steve Langdon said in an e-mail.

Langdon pointed to the content policy for Google's AdWords sponsored links service, which broadly prohibits "promotion of child pornography or other non-consensual material." Langdon also noted that Google offers a filtering tool called SafeSearch that aims to block offensive content in search results.

Which is what they should do. All companies that provide search and other access to online material should make some attempt to make sure they are not facilitating any illegal activity including child pornography.

The suit was filed by the White Plains, N.Y.-based firm of Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz. Other recent lawsuits filed by the firm have sought at least $10 million for alleged sex discrimination against Atlantic City, N.J., casino cocktail waitresses and $600 million from the maker of an ephedra-based dietary supplement claimed to cause the death of a Baltimore Orioles pitcher.

Toback, the politician backing the action, describes himself in his biography on Nassau County's Web site as a "quality of life guy" who has focused on legislation promoting open space and recreational areas. He has also co-sponsored a law designed to protect teenagers from tanning beds and has planned this year to pursue a ban of toy guns in the area.

Legislator Toback also co-sponsored a law to protect Nassau teens from the harmful effects of indoor tanning devices that requires anyone under the age of 18 who wishes to use a tanning facility to have signed, written consent from his or her parent.



More things that just piss me off