Google Sued Over Child Porn Links

A New York politician sued Google Thursday in the state's Supreme Court over allegations that it was profiting from links to child pornography. Jeffrey Toback of the Nassau County Legislature said the search engine's paid advertisements include links to minors engaged in lewd acts.

Google has denied such activity and said it takes steps to ensure access to child porn is difficult. The company has a policy of removing references to the subject, a spokesperson said. Additionally, the content is reported to law enforcement.

But Toback disagrees. He argues that while the company caters to the Chinese government, it is not "spending a dime's worth of resources" to combat child porn. He said a suit was necessary because the County Legislature itself has no authority over the search giant.

The lawsuit seems to not focus on a monetary aspect, as it asks for no specific damages. However, it does ask for the company to block and prohibit any advertising relating to sites that display or market child pornography.

It should be noted that Google's AdWords terms of service already include a clause that prohibits "promotion of child pornography or other non-consensual material." Thus, Toback's suit might be hard to argue in court, as the company is apparently not facilitating the links.

The Communications Decency Act provides protection to companies if it is shown they are making an attempt "in good faith" to restrict the material.