Google: Not Liable For Users' Online Activities

JACKSON: Does Google help criminals by allowing its search engine to lead to pirated music or by having its auto-complete function suggest illegal activities?

Mississippi's attorney general suspects the company does and wants to investigate further, yet the internet giant says companies aren't liable for what people say and do online.

The Mountain View, California-based company says Mississippi attorney general Jim Hood is infringing on its free speech rights. The company wants US district judge Henry T Wingate to issue an injunction saying it does not have to answer a subpoena from Hood, and wants the judge to bar the attorney general from filing civil or criminal charges.

Lawyer Peter Neiman told Wingate during a three-hour hearing, that Hood, indirectly though his investigation, is trying to give states the power to filter the internet.

"They're trying to cloak themselves in 'Let's make the internet safer,'" Neiman said.

The Democratic attorney general, though, says Google profits off illegal activity through its own conduct.

The showdown between Google and Hood escalated last fall when Hood sent a 79-page subpoena to Google. That document demands the company produce information on whether Google is helping criminals by allowing its search engine to lead to pirated music, having its auto-complete function suggest illegal activities and sharing YouTube ad revenue with the makers of videos promoting illegal drug sales.
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