Google hands over bogger's IP address
Did not want to fall foul of Israel's Criminal Defamation laws
A BOGGER who has made a name for himself insulting Israeli local councillors has been outed by the "do no evil" search engine outfit Google.
Normally anyone wanting to find a blogger's IP address would have to go through a lengthy court procedure before Google would consider handing the information over.
However in this case all it took was a quiet word from the Israeli judge who mentioned the word 'criminal defamation'.
The 'slanderous' posts were stuck up over the last year about three councillors including local council chairman Gideon Idan, Shaarei Tikva director general Haim Blumenfeld and council member Avi Yokobovich who were standing during yesterday's election.
The blogger accused the men of various crimes including pretending to be handicapped in order to receive discounts on local property taxes, receiving bribes from a contractor, and having ties to criminal gangs.
Google said it would not hand over the IP address with its lawyers muttering stuff about free speech.
However in a pre-ruling, Judge Oren Schwartz said that the blog's content raised suspicions of criminal conduct, and Google rolled over.
According to the Globes .co.il Judge Schwartz was set to rule that the slander could be tantamount to 'criminal defamation'. This is a weird law which has been outlawed in many parts of the civilised world because it is used to lock up journalists who write bad things about governments.
It seems that Google realised that if it did not give the councillors what they wanted, it could be charged with being involved in a criminal conspiracy.
More here
Comments
Yay ! Yet another victory for Free Speech !
So basically this means that Google will courageously stand up for Freedom and Justice in the US, where it apparently fears nothing, but in any other country, it folds like a house of cards before the two-year-old even gets to the table.What a positively remarkable dedication to Free Speech. What a brilliant way of exporting the American view of Freedom and Justice.
Congratulations, Google. Your balls turn yellow faster than a traffic light.
Google, you make me sick
You cowards. Why give in to the worst terrorist country in the world. Dont fear these scumbags. They are on their way out. You have lost this and many other Google users. We will never use you again. Your cowards and unAmerican and we will have nothing to do with you. Watch you stock fall...Well, Duh!
Guess what? A company has to follow the laws of any company in which it opperates. Just like Yahoo had to turn over it's political dissent blogger. A company can't pick and choose which countries laws to abide by. That would be tantamount to the corporation making up it's only laws.It's easy to sit in our country and claim that the companies should all follow our laws around the world because our laws are obviously the most ethical.
Israel
Would this have happened so easily if it had been in Iran?google-eyed monster
Free with my Sunday paper was a miniature 'For Dummies' series book entitled 'Connecting People Using Google. For Dummies'I glanced at this hoping it would be about finding people on the intenet using Google. Instead it states "...this book explains how you can...at little cost.. connect people with what you're offering".
So it's actually it's about how to make money by ruining Google's search capabilities by stuffing them full of false leads to advertising.
This is what Google has descended to. Dump these money grubbing dummies and use another search engine.
Guess it is the big monster we were all warned about!
So disappointed beyond belief. i'm sure Gen Musharraf, the arab leaders and corrupt african and far eastern leaders are rubbing their hands with glee!! i honestly cannot believe google has betrayed the relationship of trust that we all thought we had with it. I will only be happy if Google publicly apologises and openly states that it will never give information on political dissenters to any government, even Israel!Are these comments for real....?
Seriously! Mogbert has it right, what do you others expect?Google don't seem to be adopting the oh, so popular American approach of exporting US law and backwards ideals on the rest of the world, and yes that may make them un-American.
It also makes them right. I expected more of INQ readers.
Missing the point
I think people are seriously missing the point. Google as well as your net providers should have loyalty towards their users, not governments! The internet is a forum for free speech and Google as a powerful organisation should try and promote those rights. Many countries have laws that bloggers break, in some cases to highlight situations and abuse by their leaders.... for example the iranian nuclear research was leaked....do we now expect Google to aid governments in oppressive law enforcement? People have accused me of being anti-american....what Google has done is not anti-American, its uncivilised, by giving into governments requests to silence voices. I hope the same does not happen when Mugabe is finding it difficult to find rebels in his country!! If Google would tell the Israeli government, would they tell the Sudanese government? the Zimbabwean government, the Thai government? the Iranian government? the Russian government? or is just another case when the Israeli government is treated differently?Another black eye for freedom
Phil and mogbert- where are your heads?You believe that an online entity such as Google should obey the laws of every country?
If the accused has a relative in a country where your comments are considered some sort of religious/legal affront, should they be able to prosecute YOU?
Get real!! Google rolled for financial reasons.
bingo
Johnny wrote:"Get real!! Google rolled for financial reasons."
Bingo. Ultimately, the bottom line transcends political or idealogical considerations. Google is a corporation, not a political entity.
The blog is back, not on Google
There is a new blog providing some English translations from the old blog and also from the Israeli judge verdict. It looks to me like the plaintiffs twisted the truth somewhat. If this is considered criminal slander in Israel, I don't know what they use for truth.Here is the new link:
http://shaarei-tikva.behirot.net