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Comment by keepper | Hacker News Reader

That's a very easy way to put it. By their own admission, they knew their users were breaking the law ( attorney general claimed 50%, airbnb claimed 15% ).[1]

You can claim "users rights" all you want, but knowing people are using your service to break laws, and just refusing compliance, well gets you to exactly the position they are in.

[1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527023034803045795759...

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I bet 15% of Google users have used the service to break some sort of law. In fact, I bet it's much higher ("piratebay","where to buy pot","offshoring","visit Cuba")

That wouldn't convince me that Google should turn over thousands of user records without a fight.

It's important that prosecutors have some sort of burden or proof before obtaining personal information, not after. I hope all companies push back on such requests, even when it's not in their financial interest to do so.

The difference is that you're not directly breaking the law using Google when you visit a torrent site, and there are ways to remove certain information from Google, like Chilling Effect. However, on Airbnb users were directly using the platform the flout or break the law, which is why they're in trouble.

well said - Also they are aiding and abetting in breaking the law which should mean they are equally punishable and should be.

Sure. But if it's illegal to rent an apartment short term, and you post an ad to rent an apartment short term with reviews of people who did rent an apartment short term in the past, that burden of proof is met.

In the US, performing a search query is not against the law.

Google is an index of the web, and allows folks to search that index.

Google has a process to remove search results that would links to sites that host copyright material.

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