Harris v. Google [1]

On February 8, 2010, Jonathon Harris, a rare coin dealer, filed a lawsuit against Google, Inc. in Florida state court. According to the complaint, a Google Phonebook search for rare coins returned his home address and a map to his home, rather than information for his business address for periods of time from July 2007 through January 2010.

Arguing that he "reasonably feels that crimes of theft, burglary, and home invasion are more likely if he publishes his family's home address as a place where rare coins are found," Mr. Harris sought a permanent injunction and claimed damages from invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. According to the complaint, Google failed to permanently correct the entry after multiple written demands, even though Google had a written policy to remove such information upon written demand within 48 hours.

After removing the complaint to federal court, Google has moved to dismiss all claims, arguing that Mr. Harris's home address is not a private fact. Additionally, Google argued that the suit is barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act because the information from the search was provided by a third party who aggregates telephone directories and other public records otherwise available on the web.