SEM NewsAccountant sues Google for libel
2004-03-22
A man who Googled his own name and then found information he did not like is suing the search giant for libel.
Mark Maughan, a certified public accountant, claims that his search delivered "alarming, false, misleading and injurious results" about him and his business.
His search threw up information that incorrectly stated that either he or Brown & Maughan, the company he works for, had been disciplined for gross negligence, for failing to submit a client's claim for refund of overpayment of taxes on time, and for practicing as a CPA without a permit.
The error reportedly occurred as a result of Google's patented PageRank search system which scans the source and reformats text, changing the context.
When he contacted Google, Maugham says he was told that the search engine was not responsible. Google blamed the state accountancy board for the mistake, despite the offending information did not appear on the state board site.
Mr Maugham is also suing AOL, Time Warner and Yahoo! for using the same results.
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