Pornographer Cries Foul

A pornographer from California (where else?) is suing Google, Inc., because apparently people can use Google to find bootlegged versions of its photos and passwords to get onto its sites. Aside from a lack of sympathy for the pornographer, the issue here goes to the heart of the internet.

The internet is a place where information flows. Search engines facilitate that flow of information. It would be great if there were a way to prevent any of that information from being distributed in violation of a copyright, but it's not the responsibility of the search engines to police the content. Their focus is on the free flow of information, not how to stop it.

When anyone starts censoring content, the slope gets slippery. Once Google got started, where would it stop? That's not a role for search engines, although the individuals who distribute other people's copyrighted material should be prosecuted in the courts - even if what they're distributing belongs to pornographers.