Oh, what times we live in.
A Hong Kong court has ruled that a local tycoon can sue Google Inc for defamation because searches for his name on Google suggest adding the word ‘triad’, Hong Kong’s notorious organized crime groups.
Searches in both English and Chinese for Albert Yeung Sau-shing, the founder and chairman of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Emperor Group, will automatically suggest phrases related to organized crime using Google’s ‘autocomplete’ function.
On Tuesday, the High Court of Hong Kong dismissed Google’s argument that it was not responsible for the autocomplete suggestions related to Yeung and that the court did not have personal jurisdiction over the U.S. search giant.
Fascinating.
I’d love to be described as a “local tycoon”.
I love how Google’s knee-jerk reaction is always “we’re not responsible for the content of our own products.” They’re like spoiled, over-entitled trust find kids.
Autocomplete search suggestions are generated by frequency of use, no? Doesn’t this simply mean a lot of people used those search terms, and that Albert’s being pissy about it?
Yep.
Oh, oh. I see where this is going.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5005292/Screen%20Shot%202014-08-06%20at%209.53.02%20AM.png