Comments on: Google: We had no choice in Israel ID request

Contrary to reports that Google "voluntarily" divulged the IP address of an Israeli blogger sued for defamation, the company says that it did so only when "required" by a court order.

[blade0925]

Nice

Playing both sides? I like it! Anyway, I agree with Google, it just made me laugh when i saw Google was actually debating with themselves.

[arkangel_3]

Tell Me Something...

How the heck can an Israeli Court have any kind of jurisdiction in the United States? Don't they have to go through the proper channels in the USA in order to get the information? Google is, after all, an American based company.

This is like a Russian Court ordering Google to turn over my information because I said some nasty things about President Putin.

The last time I looked, we had our own government with it's own courts and Constitution...or has someone now put Israel in charge of America?

[FrankTurd]

The Internet Is NOT The United States

The Internet is global, sparky.

It doesn't matter where your servers or core businesses are located these days. The MPAA/RIAA sue P2P companies in other countries all the time (and win). If you don't protect yourself and use anonymous proxies to post criminally defamatory accusations, then you get what you deserve (a boot on the neck usually).

And yes, Israel own American politics and thus the court system as a result. Everyone knows that.

[declan00]

Israel court

Google opened an office in Israel, I think last month. So their representatives there are bound by Israeli law (and can be imprisoned if they don't comply).

Competing jurisdictions can be a problem. If I were a company in the blog-hosting business, I'd be very careful before expanding to countries with weaker free speech protections. It's bound to get you in trouble with one country or the other eventually.

[mearshon]

Sounds familiar

Isn't this the same type of situation that Yahoo was faced with in China? It was a PR nightmare for Yahoo, I wonder if Google will get off easier because they are 'Google'?

[t8]

Google aint that stupid

Why would they divulge information willingly? They simply wouldn't unless they had to.

Their multi billion dollar industry sits on trust and they wouldn't be stupid enough to destroy that trust. Remember that they don't have a lock in business like Microsoft. So it doesn't pay for them to be evil. Even from a selfish point of view, it would cost them too much money and they get nothing in return for disclosing such information.

I say give them some credit. There is no way they are that stupid.