Jim Hood | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 03 Mar 2015 11:45:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Jim Hood | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Google calls out MPAAs attempts to ‘censor the internet’ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/google-calls-out-mpaas-attempts-to-censor-the-internet/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/google-calls-out-mpaas-attempts-to-censor-the-internet/#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2015 10:28:23 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=238364 Google has been both a friend and a foe for organisations like the MPAA over the years. While it has acquiesced to DMCA takedown requests and helped block certain websites from being accessible through its search results, it's also been more reactive than proactive in doing so and therefore is never quite as vigilant as …

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Google has been both a friend and a foe for organisations like the MPAA over the years. While it has acquiesced to DMCA takedown requests and helped block certain websites from being accessible through its search results, it's also been more reactive than proactive in doing so and therefore is never quite as vigilant as the lobby groups would like. Ultimately it seems, that's because while Google might agree with some of their practices, the ones it doesn't like revolve around what it describes as “censoring the internet.”

This is no more apparent than in the last few days, when Google issued a response to a recent win it had in the courts over the MPAA. After the media-funded organisation pushed to give Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood what TorrentFreak describes as SOPA-like powers to censor content online, Google asked courts to block any attempt he might make to use them and was successful in doing so.

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Jim ‘Shooter McGavin' Hood, seen here in 2007

Following on from this victory, it stated: “We’re pleased with the court’s ruling, which recognizes that the MPAA’s long-running campaign to censor the Web — which started with SOPA — is contrary to federal law.”

Although this isn't the first time that Google has criticised the MPAA, it is notable for how blatant its condemnation is and suggests a worsening relationship between the lobby group and the search giant. Without Google cooperation, the MPAA may find it much harder to have links taken down in future and it would clearly have an uphill battle if it decided to test its legal might against Google's again.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Although the MPAA sided with a pretty big name in this recent suit, it doesn't seem like a smart plan weighing up legally against Google. The amount of money it could theoretically put into a defence dwarfs that of the MPAAs, despite its movie studio funding. 

The question is now, will it try to appease the search giant, or continue tactics that aggravate it further?

Image source: Wikimedia

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Google sues Mississippi attorney general over MPAA ties https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/google-sues-mississippi-attorney-general-over-mpaa-ties/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/google-sues-mississippi-attorney-general-over-mpaa-ties/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2014 10:25:14 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=227637 Mississippi Attorney General, Jim Hood, has apparently been giving Google a hard time for the past year and a half, with repeated urges to try and have it block content online. Now though Google is turning the tables on him and suing him for having close ties with the MPAA, as well as violating several …

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Mississippi Attorney General, Jim Hood, has apparently been giving Google a hard time for the past year and a half, with repeated urges to try and have it block content online. Now though Google is turning the tables on him and suing him for having close ties with the MPAA, as well as violating several key US laws. The suit alleges that he threatened Google with holding it accountable for prescription drug sales online, as well as the distribution of copyright protected content, if it did not remove links he and copyright lobby groups demanded be taken down.

The straw that broke Google's back in this instance, was a subpoena that Hood sent the search giant in late October, which attempted to pin all linked to illegal activity being perpetrated by people online, on Google, potentially to seek punitive (and therefore somewhat arbitrarily decided) damages.

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Pictured: Jim Hood. Not a chubby ‘Shooter' McGavin

Google however had other ideas and is now countersuing, suggesting that Hood is violating its First Amendment right to freedom of speech, its fourth amendment right to avoid unnecessary searches and seizures and the Communications Decency Act of 1996. It also accuses Hood and the MPAA of trying to rejuvenate parts of the SOPA act, which was halted back in 2012 from being signed into law by a determined global rejection by internet users everywhere. If it had come into play, governments would have been able to force search engines to remove sites that were accused of illegal activity, whether it was eventually proven or not.

Google alleges that the cooperation between Hood and the MPAA is worrisome because it suggests bias and a willingness to circumvent legal procedures to push through legislation that has already been deemed unnecessary and unpopular by the internet users of the world.

The search giant has also asked any companies involved with Hood or the MPAA, to preserve any documents related to the SOPA revival or targeting of Google. Those may end up becoming necessary as part of the trial.

“We regret having to take this matter to court, and we are doing so only after years of efforts to explain both the merits of our position and the extensive steps we've taken on our platforms,” said SVP and general counsel for Google.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Perhaps this is one good bit of news to come from the Sony hacks. Nobody wants SOPA revived. Let that thing stay dead.

[Thanks HP]

Image source: Wikimedia

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