Google Says Mississippi Sales Probe Amounts to Censorship
Google Inc. (GOOG) sued to block what it called overly broad demands by Mississippi in its investigation of online contraband sales, after accusing the states attorney general of doing Hollywoods bidding.
The lawsuit was filed today in federal court in Jackson, after Google, citing hacked Sony Corp. e-mails, expressed concerns about reports that the Motion Picture Association of America pushed states to pressure the search-engine giant.
In an item posted on its public policy blog yesterday and updated today, Google said the MPAA did legal legwork for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hoods investigation by drafting a letter making numerous accusations about the company that he later sent.
The company asked the court to block Hoods subpoena, which seeks information about how it restricts -- or doesnt restrict -- material created by third parties and available through Googles services and also asks for information about the importation of prescription drugs.
Little in the subpoena seems to relate to the valid subjects of regulation by the attorney general, Google said in its complaint. It is instead, consistent with the attorney generals prior public statements, designed only to impose burdensome obligation on Google in order to coerce Google to agree to the changes to its business practices.
In a statement today, Hood struck a conciliatory tone, saying he was calling a time out and would seek to reach a peaceful resolution with Google. Still, he chided the companys general counsel for feeding the media a salacious Hollywood tale.
Some of its more excitable people have sued trying to stop the state of Mississippi for daring to ask some questions, he said.
Google claimed Hoods threats of civil and criminal enforcement violate the federal Communications Decency Act, which it said grants Internet companies broad immunity from prosecution for making third-party content available. Hoods demands also violate constitutional protections of free speech and against unreasonable searches, Mountain View, California-based Google said.
The effect of the attorney generals inquiry is to chill the operation of Googles search engine and other services such as the YouTube video-sharing site, threatening to silence vast amounts of protected speech, according to the complaint.
The MPAA yesterday said Googles effort to position itself as a defender of free speech is shameful.
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Google Says Mississippi Sales Probe Amounts to Censorship