Google sued by blogger in Liskula Cohen libel case

Written by Matt Jones

Last week we reported how Google was ordered by a US court to hand over details of the blogger who made libellous claims against former model Liskula Cohen. The blogger wrote a humorous post about ‘skanks in New York’ where Liskula Cohen was labelled a skank and lampooned for not acting or dressing her age.

The former model went to court to force Google to reveal the blogger’s identity, fashion student Rosemary Port, so that her lawyers could take legal action against the blogger for her comments.

However, Rosemary Port is now suing Google for giving up her contact details, saying that the Internet giant should have protected her identity and respected her privacy. She is now suing Google for $15 million, despite Google’s terms and conditions attached to the use of blogger.com saying that Google can share data if legal action is being taken.

The author of the offensive comments, Miss Port, claims that Liskula Cohen is merely bringing more attention on herself by taking legal action.

Rosemary Port added:

This has become a public spectacle and a circus that is not my doing. By going to the press, she defamed herself.

Before her suit, there were probably two hits on my Web site: One from me looking at it, and one from her looking at it. That was before it became a spectacle. I feel my right to privacy has been violated.

When I was being defended by attorneys for Google, I thought my right to privacy was being protected. But that right fell through the cracks. Without any warning, I was put on a silver platter for the press to attack me. I would think that a multi-billion dollar conglomerate would protect the rights of all its users.

Miss Port’s lawyer, Salvatore Strazzullo, believes that Google should have protected her identity and is prepared to take Google to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Of course, this case will not go anywhere because Google has covered itself in its terms and conditions for using blogger.com, something that Rosemary Port did not do when she wrote the comments about Liskula Cohen.