Google Loses Autocomplete Defamation Suit In Japan

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I wonder if this is going to open the floodgates for lawsuits against Google now? Auto-completes are actually kinda funny. Want to know what kind of employee you are? Google "Am I an asset?" Every time I get to a-s-s it autocompletes the word with "hole." :D

The man claimed that when Google users begin typing his name, the search engine would automatically suggest criminal acts he did not commit. The links would produce articles slandering him, he said. The plaintiff said that along with the autocomplete function slandering him, he unexpectedly lost his job and was repeatedly rejected when he applied for other work.
 
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The court systems that approve these sorts of things simply do not understand how auto-complete works. By blaming Google, they do what a lot of people do that don't understand ... they blame the system, not the people inputting data. They can't prove that Google curates a system that encourages slander. All they can prove is that Google provides a search engine with auto-complete suggestions.

Were I running Google my response would be simple ... disable auto-complete for the entire nation you get sued in and, for that nation, put up a disclaimer saying exactly why it is disabled. See how long it takes for the people to scream at their governments.
 
I blame google for the day to day suffering I now have to endure since I googled my new jr admin and found pics of her on the internet.. now all I can see is her in fishnet

its a terrible burden.. damn you google!!
 
Shoot the messenger mentality plus sue everyone in sight legal system = this sad, sad result.
 
yeah this would be stupid if this is successfull for the plantiff. They are not the one slandering just provided you the who is slandering you ;)
 
This is stupid. Of course Google is the single most evil and corrupted company on the planet next to EA and those Oculus jerks who are trying to look like a small business by mooching off Kickstarter to minimize risk, but they at least should be slapped down for something they're actively doing wrong like spying on you through your Chromebook, Chrome browser, or phone and not for just being stupid about how they build autocomplete.
 
It's nice to see Japan adopting a US law approach to enabling the rise of idiots.
 
Luckily here defamation suits need to show that you are actually impacted by it, that your life in some way has changed as a result of it.... oh fuck who am I kidding, we're worse than all of them.
 
The court systems that approve these sorts of things simply do not understand how auto-complete works. By blaming Google, they do what a lot of people do that don't understand ... they blame the system, not the people inputting data. They can't prove that Google curates a system that encourages slander. All they can prove is that Google provides a search engine with auto-complete suggestions.

Its not that Google curates a system that encourages slander but that Google created a system that allows slander and simply doesn't care. If Google wants to collect all this data about people they should be responsible for how it is displayed. They made this mess and should be the ones to fix it.
 
Luckily here defamation suits need to show that you are actually impacted by it, that your life in some way has changed as a result of it.... oh fuck who am I kidding, we're worse than all of them.

The guy was unexpectedly fired and then couldn't get further employment. Not impacted...?
 
This is more of a culture clash problem in Japan than anything.
 
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Well if it had been in the US it would have been worse for Google.

...must pay 300,000 yen ($3,100) to the plaintiff...

...The court did not rule that the search functions were directly responsible for the loss of the plaintiff's job...

Many people trust the internet as an authority. I see it as comparative to starting untrue rumors about someone.

I read it on the internet, it must be true!
 
I blame google for the day to day suffering I now have to endure since I googled my new jr admin and found pics of her on the internet.. now all I can see is her in fishnet

its a terrible burden.. damn you google!!

sauce?
 
When I google "Am I an Ass..." it finishes with "assassin or Templar"

wtf.
 
I blame google for the day to day suffering I now have to endure since I googled my new jr admin and found pics of her on the internet.. now all I can see is her in fishnet

its a terrible burden.. damn you google!!

pics or it didn't happened.
 
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