Eric Schmidt Convicted Of Defamation Over 'Google Suggest' Function

Yahoo! News:

A Paris court has convicted US search engine giant Google and its chief executive Eric Schmidt of defamation over results from its "suggest" function, a French legal affairs website has revealed.

Read the whole story: Yahoo! News

Comments

[Forgive and Share]

09:58 AM on 09/27/2010

"The statement said that the Google Suggest function simply reflected the most common terms used in the past with words entered, so it was not Google itself that was making the suggestions."

But it does say "GOOGLE" Suggest... and it does publish defamatory words without checking for correctness or clearly attributing it to identifiable others. Such potential abuse must not go unchecked.

[Jennifer Hagan]

09:21 AM on 09/27/2010

I hate this function because it is a total waste of time for me. It puts up suggestions before i'm even finished typing. sheesh.

[Undercover Report]

09:02 AM on 09/27/2010

Let's see... I guess using Google was the only search option. The French intellectuals were against Disney EURO too -- cultural imperialism. Who can forget -- Jose Bove -- the Man Who Dismantled a McDonalds -- because he was against American influence & corporate power.

[Jennifer Hagan]

09:20 AM on 09/27/2010

And against the use of GMOs. That was partly why José Bové did that. Jose Bové has done a lot to stop Monstanto from planting their GMOs in France.

[Undercover Report]

10:10 AM on 09/27/2010

And why was he against GMO?

[Jennifer Hagan]

01:49 PM on 09/27/2010

It wasn't the only reason French people were against Euro Disney. Some people didn't want even more traffic in Paris and the Banlieu. Have you ever been to Paris? I live in France and most people aren't sitting around talking about cultural imperialism when it comes to McDonalds. Most people are going to Mcdos as it is called. Jose Bové is an environmentalist. He got pissed because Mcdonalds had corporate policies that were horrible and they were serving people GMOs. He went to jail for it and paid his time for his crime. Now he is a prominent activist who fights for against GMOs and farmer's rights. You have farmers in the region that I live in that need to be treated fairer than they are. He has been a great champion on attempting to keep our food safe with safer pesticides, use of non GMO seeds and technologies and stopping corporations from blocking the Biologique movement here. That is what I get from José Bové. America needs more people doing that to keep food safe.

[Christophe]

08:30 PM on 09/27/2010

Choosing our food (in quality and quantity) is one of the most important decisions we make everyday.  It is interesting to see the success that the Chipotle restaurant chain has today in the US. 
Their tagline is "Food with integrity" - http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/fwi/fwi.aspx.

[CommanderChe]

04:43 AM on 09/27/2010

I used to like google until they flipped on net neutrality. they became the monster they used to criticize.

[schatsie]

01:29 PM on 09/27/2010

me too...

[planetjeffy]

12:08 AM on 09/27/2010

if you type in "eric schmidt is a"

you get nothing
good job eric

[imworking4me2]

03:47 AM on 09/27/2010

That's why he's the CEO.

[planetjeffy]

05:46 AM on 09/27/2010

it is good to be the king

[rotorhead1871]

09:13 PM on 09/26/2010

wait till someone takes one of their data centers, so much for on line data storage....

[JasonMcl]

07:45 PM on 09/26/2010

"The court ordered Google to make a symbolic payment of one euro in damages and take measures to ensure they could be no repeat of the offence."

That's a rough fine.

[Skeptical Patriot]

04:35 PM on 09/26/2010

Sad, their legal system sounds a screwed up as ours.

[jabailo]

03:48 PM on 09/26/2010

Because I support a lot of causes that are distasteful to the Ruling Elites (Linux, Republicans) I have people who have posted really vile things under my name. Sometimes these come up as the top hits in Google and although I have fruitlessly complained to the site owners, they never seem to take them down. Also, since it was someone else posting, not me, I can't log in and delete.

I have often thought about suing Google because today, when you search for a persons name, the top hits "represent" the person or term. I think Google gets a free ride on the back of other people's content anyway, so they should be brought to bear for the full weight of responsibility.

Also, since they have no telephone number, not customer service or any type of human interface, it's impossible to get them to respond to complaints. I have been unable to get off one of their Google Group's mailing lists for 2 years now...despite emailing, posting on bulletin boards, writing to the group manager. I gave up and set a server side filter just to block that (spam) mail!

Google has way too much power, and way too little responsibility for its actions.

The legal system should bring them back down to Earth.

[Skeptical Patriot]

04:36 PM on 09/26/2010

I love it, "Ruling Elites". Must be great to have never left the 60's

[tc399]

06:07 PM on 09/26/2010

Get over yourself.

[department]

02:06 PM on 09/26/2010

Because Google seems to think "it's too big to fail" it ignores requests for corrections IMO. They link persons name near a topic that is repulsive or on party affiliation that one is not part of "tea party". If one calls Google and gets a person eventually they say it's not their department. If one writes a letter it has no impact and no reply is given.

[DonRoberto]

02:06 PM on 09/26/2010

Interesting that they would find Google guilty of defamation for merely allowing display of what users have typed in.

What's next? Will window manufacturers have to pay fines when a homeowner looks outside and sees a flasher?

[jabailo]

03:51 PM on 09/26/2010

Think of this is way. Suppose you went up to a person and asked "What do you think about Bill Rajani". And the first thing the person said was "he's a crook".

Isn't that defamation?

Google represents itself as an information source. That's its main business.

So, if you go and enter the name "Bill Rajani" into Google, and the first article is a defamatory posting (which you have no way of knowing if its factual or not) then Google has officially "said" that Bill Rajani is a crook.

Therefore they are extremely liable.

[webgeek]

05:59 PM on 09/26/2010

Google is a search engine, not an 'information source' per se.

[DonRoberto]

06:03 PM on 09/26/2010

Google isn't a *creator* of information, it is a *purveyor* --- much like the window in my analogy. To my knowledge, Fedex has never been convicted of harrassment for delivering other people's abusive messages, nor has Fox News been convicted of libel for communicating GOP/tea party hyperbole about individuals on the left.

Holding Google accountable makes marginally more sense than holding the ISP, the web browser manufacturer, or the computer manufacturer responsible --- in each case, that party would only be conveying someone else's content, not consciously and deliberately creating their own.

[MyTake]

01:01 PM on 09/26/2010

Good. Too bad it was not a criminal charge and then they could put Herr Schmidt on the "no fly" list.

If you want to foist crime around the globe, all you have to do is set up shop in the United States.

Why does the Prez. not send the Justice Department over to Google and find out exactly what they are doing with Internet data and if they are porting all transaction activity into the NSA data farms.

[JasonMcl]

08:18 PM on 09/26/2010

If you really think this was a legitimate crime I have no idea what to say to you.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

12:52 PM on 09/26/2010

So when I type something into google that is the guy who is suggesting the possible search terms I want.

He is quite the fast typist.  I barely start and he finishes my words for me.

I always figured that they would have a regular employee take care of such menial tasks.  Or maybe a monkey.