| Google no better than Yahoo |
| Written by Menach Rosey | |
| Wednesday, 28 November 2007 | |
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Israeli court forces Google to reveal IP In a rather dramatic decision an Israeli court has forced Google to reveal the IP address of a blogger on its blogger.com program. A local municipality in SHARAI TIKVA in Israel made the request from the court in response to an extreme slanderous post that was placed on the blog. The alleged slander was made in the heat of a local campaign that apparently had damaged the reputation of a Mr. Chaim Bloomfeld. The true identity of the Slanderer was needed as he was to be sued for $78,000 for defamation of character. Google originally was very hesitant to do this but now will be forced into the revelation by the court. Further steps will be needed to actually get the name of the alleged slanderer as the IP alone will not provide enough info. The court may also need to force the internet provider to reveal the name of one of its clients. The Judge in his decision made clear that although in normal circumstances an anonymous blogger should stay that way this case was different. The Slanderer wrote over seven pages of specific distortion and an election may have hung in the balance. All this comes in the wake of criticism of Yahoo for giving e-mail contact info to Chinese authorities that resulted in a prison term of ten years for a reporter. |