BG Staff
An Australian court has ordered Google to Identify an anonymous user who gave a negative review to Melbourne Dental Surgeon. Dr. Matthew Kabbabe says a reviewer’s comments posted about 3 months ago urged patients to stay way form practice has damaged his practice.
Under Judge`s Ruiling, Google has to turn over all identifying data including location metadata and any IP addresses associated with the Alias “CBsm 23”. Google has already denied a request by the physician to take down the negative reviews and also a request to identify the users. Kabbabe wants to use any information gathered to pursue legal action.
In the states, The consumer Reviews Fairness Act (CRFA) which was signed into law in 2016 prohibits organizations from writing NDA into contracts or Terms of Service that would inherently limit a customer from sharing bad reviews. However, US-based companies are liable by the Hague convention to provide the information requested by foreign courts.
Australia can force the removal of some online content under its defamation laws and on this base large corporations cant sue under those laws. This law is only applicable to small businesses and NGOs.In truth, Australia is considered to be free from any censorship but after this review, I guess not that much.
Looking from a common man’s standpoint, this is a word of warning to carefully review if you have used a service and felt bad.
Using google reviews for leisure or anything negative may force the company to force google in giving up your details.
This might lead to legal action against you.
