Defamation* and Search Engines
I suppose you already know this, but just in case you didn’t, if defamatory material is found through Google, it doesn’t mean you can sue it. On second read, there’s also this little tidbit that may be of interest to bloggers.
By contrast, the defamation liability risk of selection sites such as The Drudge Report — that is, sites that offer collections of specially culled links to other sites — remains uncertain. Someone who chooses a link may count as having published the material to which the link leads — and may be held to have the state of mind to be held liable for the choice. This argument has been used in the context of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and could be used in the defamation context, as well.
It should be interesting to see how things develop.
*Thanks Maud.