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Google Sued by Model Over 'Skank' Comment

TSC Staff

In a filing in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Liskula Cohen said that comments posted on a Blogger.com blog referring to her as a "skank" and "old hag" were defamatory, malicious and false.

Google has declined to comment about the complaint.

Blogger.com's content policy prohibits users from publishing anything that "promotes hate toward groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity."

And, according to Google's privacy policy, personal information can be disclosed when the company has "a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of Google, its users or the public as required or permitted by law."

This isn't the first time Google's been sued by an individual over matters involving privacy. In April, a Pittsburgh couple filed a lawsuit alleging that the Internet company "Street View" mapping feature violated their privacy. Google sought the dismissal of the suit.

In February, Google rival Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) was slapped with one of at least two lawsuits by Chinese dissidents claiming the company aided Chinese authorities by releasing electronic communications that ended up landing one plaintiff in jail. The first lawsuit ended in November with an out-of-court settlement.