3 Comments

Google Voluntarily Reveals Bloggers EMail Address

November 28, 2007 by in Tech with 3 Comments

So much for “Do No Evil”.

Google has provided the IP address of an anonymous blogger to an Israeli court voluntarily as part of a defamation case. [...]

According to Globes Online, Google had initially said that “disclosing the blogger’s identity violated rulings on the balance between freedom of expression and a person’s right to his reputation,” so what changed? This is the same company that refused to comply with US Government requests for information in 2005, a company that prides itself on privacy and its “Do No Evil” mantra. Perhaps the moral of the story: trust no one on privacy, even Google.

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  • MDPauley

    Update: We received email from Google regarding this story:

    We wanted to let you know some facts about this case as we are concerned that the story on TechCrunch (like the one on Globes) is not accurate.

    1. Google’s approach to providing users’ personal data is clear – we only provide information to third parties (such as law enforcement agencies) when they have been through the proper legal process. This ensures that we are able both to protect the privacy of our users and act responsibly where people may have used Google’s products to break the law.

    2. In terms of this case:
    · Members of the Israeli Shaarei Tikva Council asked for an injunction against Google – requiring us to provide the IP address of a blogger who had allegedly defamed them;
    · Google opposed the injunction. Amongst other things, we wanted to give the blogger a chance to explain in court why his or her IP address should not be disclosed to members of the council;
    · On 18 November the court agreed that the blogger should be sent a notice (via the blog) inviting him/her to appear at a hearing on 25 November 2007;
    · The blogger failed to appear at this hearing – in his/her absence, and having considered all the various arguments, the court ordered that the IP address (which it was holding) be provided to the members of the council.

    3. Google approach to this case has been entirely consistent with the way it handles all third party requests for user data.

    4. In terms of Blogger, we have clear terms and conditions, which users agree to when they sign up for the service. These make clear that:
    · Certain types of content is against our rules;
    · Violation of our terms of service may lead not only to the termination of the users’ account but also “state and federal penalties and other legal consequences”; and
    · Google may investigate any violations to “comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request”.

    In your comment to M Freitas you say “I’d note that Google voluntarily handed these details over, if the court had ordered them to do so, so be it but if they are serious about privacy they would have pushed it to that level, not just caved in at the first opportunity”. As you can see from the details above Google did oppose the injunction in court, we did not just cave in at the first opportunity and we did argue that the blogger in question should have the chance to make their case. But having considered all sides of the argument the judge ordered that the IP address be handed over.

  • Alex

    Uh.

    Try reading the primary news source rather than that alarmist blog post.

    Google was ordered to hand it over. A judge issued it and everything. And it’s not like they just let this go by unopposed.

  • Mike

    Yep. The “Read More” site has issued an update/correction also.

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