Mississippi's attorney general is resuming an investigation into whether Google facilitates illegal behavior after an appeals court ruling. MPB's Maura Moed reports.
Google sued Attorney General Jim Hood to stop him from gaining access to their proprietary documents. Hood is trying to determine if Google's search algorithm violates Mississippi state law. In March of last year, the company won an injunction against AG Hood. Friday's ruling stops that order - something Hood says he is thankful for.
"That's pretty arrogant for a company, even the largest company in the world, to just go out and sue a state prematurely. I'm glad the Fifth Circuit, with the Chief Justice sitting on the panel told them so," Hood says.
The ruling throws out the injunction, but allows Google's federal lawsuit to continue. Google has not announced whether it will appeal the ruling. They say in a statement, "We're reviewing the implications of the Court's decision, which focused on whether our claim was premature rather than on the merits of the case."
Hood says the company has been less helpful than others when it comes to helping state officials catch criminals who operate online.
"There are a lot of companies that step up. AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, all those internet service providers, have worked with attorneys general to try to make the Internet a safer place. But, Google takes a different approach. Had Google come forward like other companies have done, working with attorneys general and been a good corporate citizen, we AGs would have probably been able to work out things like we did with Facebook," says Hood.
Hood says his office will begin reviewing what's being done online now to see what action they can take next.
