Google Sues Mississippi Over Campaign to Restrict Searches

By Rolfe Winkler 

Google Inc. sued Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood on Friday, seeking to prevent him from enforcing a wide-ranging subpoena that has become entangled in a dispute between Google and Hollywood.

Filed in U.S. District Court for Southern Mississippi, the lawsuit claims that for 18 months, Mr. Hood has threatened to prosecute Google if the company doesn't block certain content on its websites. Google says that when it didn't agree to Mr. Hood's demands, the attorney general filed "an enormously burdensome subpoena" in late October seeking information about Internet activity related to illegal drugs, human trafficking and copyrighted content, among other subjects.

Google says the subpoena in unconstitutional because it seeks information about activities protected by the First Amendment and other federal laws.

In a statement, Mr. Hood said he and other attorneys general want Google to restrict searches for illegal drugs and pirated content. "Feeling emboldened with its billions of dollars, media prowess and political power," Mr. Hood said, Google is "trying to stop the state of Mississippi for daring to ask some questions."

Still, Mr. Hood said he would reach out to Google's lawyers in hopes of settling the dispute.

The lawsuit represents the latest skirmish in a longer-running war between Hollywood and the search giant over online piracy.

That battle took a new turn this week after leaked documents from the hacking of Sony Pictures, first published by The Verge, suggested that movie studios were working behind the scenes with law-enforcement officials, including Mr. Hood, to discredit Google and revive a controversial campaign to block websites.

In a blog post published Thursday, Kent Walker, Google senior vice president and general counsel, accused the Motion Picture Association of America of doing "legal legwork" for Mr. Hood. The movie industry has long tried to force Google to be more aggressive in blocking websites that it claims are distributing its members' copyrighted content.

A previous legislative effort backed by the movie industry, the Stop Online Piracy Act, failed in 2012. In his Thursday blog post, Mr. Walker said the MPAA is "trying to secretly censor the Internet."

The MPAA responded in a statement, saying that "Google's effort to position itself as a defender of free speech is shameful. Freedom of speech should never be used as a shield for unlawful activities and the Internet is not a license to steal."

The MPAA said Google is attempting to deflect attention away from "legitimate and important ongoing investigations by state attorneys general into the role of Google Search in enabling and facilitating illegal conduct."

In October, Google rolled out refinements to its search algorithm designed to make it harder to find content that allegedly infringes copyrights.

Write to Rolfe Winkler at [e-mail]

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