Eight New Yorkers sue Baidu for $16m
Chinese gov search glovepuppet 'permeates US borders'
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Baidu is being sued by eight New York residents, who filed a lawsuit yesterday against the company accusing the search engine of censoring internet information in collusion with the People's Republic.
According to Reuters, the complaint claims violation of the US Constitution. It names Baidu and, unusually, the Chinese government as defendants in the case.
The suit was filed in the US District Court in Manhattan, New York. It claims that Baidu operates as an "enforcer" to Beijing policies by censoring pro-democracy content on the internet.
An example cited is China's military action against protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The plaintiffs, described in the complaint as pro-democracy activists, allege that their writings and videos have been suppressed by Baidu.
"We allege a private company is acting as the arm and agent of a foreign state to suppress political speech, and permeate US borders to violate the First Amendment," the plaintiffs' lawyer Stephen Preziosi told Reuters. The idea is that as Baidu searches conducted in the States do not show the pro-democracy materials, US law has been violated.
"An internet search engine is a public acommodation, just like a hotel or restaurant," Preziosi argued.
The complainants are seeking total damages of $16m. However, there are no demands for Baidu to tweak its search engine policies.
"It would be futile to expect Baidu to change," said Preziosi. ®
COMMENTS
Might makes Right
They are pulling UK hackers out of Blighty to face trail in the US
They are violating Pakistani airspace to knock off Osama
They quote the DMCA in taking down the PirateBay in Sweden
They hold prisoners without charge or right to counsel in unnamed foreign countries
They spy on their own citizens and the world at large in the name of Freedom
They have the most litigious society on the planet...
...and this story surprises you?
$o$ <- smiley of a guy with dollar signs in the eyes, like in cartoons
"The complainants are seeking total damages of $16m. However, there are no demands for Baidu to tweak its search engine policies."
In other words, they don't give a monkey's about freedom of speech, they're only in for the money, despite what they say to make them look like they are good concerned citizen.
Also, sueing the chinese gov? I don't recall any country allowing to sue any gov from any other country, so good luck with that.
Sort of
They are listed on Nasdaq and file accounts with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company itself is registered in the Cayman Islands for tax purposes and operates in China.
I assume they can actually understand the Chinese squiggles on baidu.com, but what loss have they suffered from not being able to find any of those squiggles pertaining to Tienanmen square on that particular website. There is nothing about it on my website either, am I going to be sued next?
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