Suit accuses Google of profiting from child porn

Found on CNet News on Thursday, 04 May 2006
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Jeffrey Toback, a representative in New York's Nassau County Legislature, charged in a complaint filed Thursday that Google has been taking in billions of dollars by allowing child pornography and "other obscene content" operators to advertise their sites through sponsored links, which are tailored to a user's search terms and automatically accompany search results.

"Defendant is willing to accede to the demands of the Chinese autocrats to block the search term 'democracy,'" the complaint states, "but when it comes to the protection and well-being of our nation's innocent children, Defendant refuses to spend a dime's worth of resources to block child pornography from reaching children."

Toback, the politician backing the action, describes himself in his biography on Nassau County's Web site as a "quality of life guy" who has focused on legislation promoting open space and recreational areas. He has also co-sponsored a law designed to protect teenagers from tanning beds and has planned this year to pursue a ban of toy guns in the area.

"Protect teenagers from tanning beds" and "a ban of toy guns"? Does this only sound strange to me? Really, this "protect children" game is everywhere now. It seems like the perfect answer to justify limitations and surveillance these days. I don't remember politicans trying to ban VCRs or snail mail before the Internet went off; after all, those also play a role in the distribution of child porn.