Tech Industry Joining Google’s Fight Against ‘Unprecedented’ Mississippi Attorney General Inquiry
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Computer industry groups are joining Google’s effort to block an investigation by Mississippi’s attorney general.
Industry groups filed court papers Friday saying federal law should block Attorney General Jim Hood from even trying to investigate Google. They say a subpoena that Hood sent Google in October is mainly aimed at actions by others, not Google. They also say the 1996 Communications Decency Act blocks Google from being held accountable for what third parties say.
Hood has been pushing Google since 2013 to prevent use of the company’s search engine to find illegal drugs and pirated music, video games and movies.
“Simply put, requiring online service providers either to respond to subpoenas directed primarily at third-party conduct – or to engage in protracted and expensive litigation to challenge their propriety – could result in extraordinary costs for those providers,” states a brief sponsored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Democracy & Technology, Public Knowledge, Open Technology Institute and R Street Institute.
CBS Sacramento
2/2/15