Activists planning to appeal US judge's ruling that treated Baidu's censorship as free speech

[Himanshu Arora]

Just a few days after a US judge ruled that the Chinese search engine Baidu has the right to block pro-democracy speech from its search results, the group of activists, who filed the original lawsuit is now planning to appeal the ruling, according to a PCWorld report.

Back in 2011, eight New York writers and video producers filed a lawsuit against Baidu claiming that the Chinese search engine blocks users in the US from viewing information advocating greater democracy in China. But last Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the lawsuit stating that the company has the right to do so.

Judge Jesse Furman compared the censorship to a newspaper, which has the right to publish what it wants. But according to Stephen Preziosi, lawyer for the eight pro-democracy activists, the comparison doesn't apply here. While newspapers have to keep in mind costs and spacing, search engines work by indexing all content on the Web, he said.

On the other hand, lawyers representing Baidu have called the ruling a victory for free speech rights. "It shows that our courts protect the right of all media to choose what they publish”, said attorney Carey Ramos. Last month, it was reported that Bing is censoring Chinese language search results for US users. Microsoft, however, denied the accusations claiming that it was a technical problem.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56192-activists-planning-to-appeal-us-judges-ruling-that-treated-baidus-censorship-as-free-speech.html

 

[wastedkill]

So a search engine available only in china and no where else is being treated like its the first thing to happen since world war 2.... EVERY country has something like this even china has a closed off search engine and where are the activists in the US trying to sue them??? Thats right THEY ARENT!!!

EDIT!!!

So after a bit of research about the company I have seen that it is available worldwide but censors some stuff which tbh isnt new at all and no one should really care not unless it blocks access to certain stuff which it doesnt so no harm done.

I think that the US Judge should also tell others that google can push their products first like they used too before some noob sued them for competiton scamming thingy as microsoft was scared that they werent getting on page 1 when anyone searched for anything.

Which google own google.com the search engine so why in the hell aren't they allowed to choose what goes on and gets taken out and what shows first its their product for gods sake!!!!

 

[Guest]

I think that the US Judge should also tell others that google can push their products first like they used too before some noob sued them for competiton scamming thingy as microsoft was scared that they werent getting on page 1 when anyone searched for anything.
Which google own google.com the search engine so why in the hell aren't they allowed to choose what goes on and gets taken out and what shows first its their product for gods sake!!!!

You mean just like all those pansies who sued Microsoft because they couldn't figure out how to download other browsers, thus forcing Microsoft to advertise its competitors on its own platform? I don't however see Google being forced to offer IE, or any other one for that matter, as an alternative on all android devices, so that's pretty much double standards right there. I guess its a viscous world, so get used to it!

 

[RustyTech]

If I understood wastedkill correctly, I think I agree with him. Although search engines should show you whatever it is your searching for, those servers belong to the respective companies and thus would be their right to display, or not display, whatever they chose.

...but since I'm not too familiar with this topic, I reserve the right to change my mind!

 

[tonylukac]

I thought there were laws that require the media to give equal time to all

 

[mailpup]

It's not a law. Equal time is an FCC rule that applies only to political candidates. It's not the same as the FCC's fairness doctrine, which is no longer in effect.

 

[cliffordcooley]

It is a search engine. If you don't get what you want, use a different search engine. I've been doing this for nearly 20 years.