U.S. judge rules Baidu's (Chinese search engine) censorship is protected as free speech

[cali]

A U.S. judge has ruled that the Chinese search engine Baidu has the right to block pro-democracy works from its query results, dismissing a lawsuit that sought to punish the company for Internet censorship.

The lawsuit against Baidu, originally filed in 2011 by eight activists in New York, claimed that the Chinese search engine had violated U.S. laws on free speech. This was because Baidu had been censoring pro-democracy works on its search engine for not only its users in China, but also for those accessing the site from New York.

The lawsuit demanded Baidu pay $16 million in damages. But on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled against the activists, and said requiring Baidu to include pro-democracy works in its search results would "run afoul" of the U.S.'s free speech laws.

In his ruling, Furman compared Baidu's blocking of pro-democracy works to a newspaper's right to exercise "editorial control" to publish what it wants. In Baidu's case, the company has created a search engine that favors certain political speech.

"The First Amendment protects Baidu's right to advocate for systems of government other than democracy [in China or elsewhere] just as surely as it protects Plaintiffs' rights to advocate for democracy," wrote Furman.

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http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247258/U.S._judge_rules_Baidu_39_s_censorship_is_protected_as_free_speech

[brooklynite]

1. I absolutely agree...

The issue isn't whether a website chooses to limit search accessibility; it's whether the internet provider restricts its users TO that search engine. In this case, that's the Government of China, and I fail to see why the US Courts would take any position on China Government policies towards its own citizens.

[cali]

2. I don't understand that either. I thought this was a very curious case.