In recent cases Google has come under fire for the practices of its users. Most notably in Italy and Brazil nations have attempted to levy law-suits against the corporation “for allowing users to distribute” certain types of content. The notion being demonstrated by these nations is that Google is responsible for the actions of those who use it. With this reasoning Facebook could be sued for what users say or post. This is like punishing the gun because a person used it for murder. This demonstrates that because nations know they can’t try to find the users without a lot of difficulty, they choose to pick on the big target that they can find. Would it not be much more sensible to ask nations to be responsible for the statements of their citizens? Is this not the purpose of legal systems? If providers like Google are going to be viewed as being responsible for their users, they are being judged as if they were a nation of their own with citizens they control. And if you are going to judge them this way, you had better give them allowance to create their own laws. American’s can’t penalize the British for what side of the road they drive on, and they can’t penalize us for allowing citizens to bear arms. If you are going to make internet corporations responsible for their users, you had better allow them to make and uphold their own laws.
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