Re:When anonymous attackers went after two Yale law students...
by joeyo on Wednesday February 18, 2009 @07:29PM
(#486456)
That last part about the law firm representing them for free because it would allow Google to have some control over precedent seems, if true, very ethically questionable to me. Lawyer have a responsibility of undivided loyalty to their clients. Just because the work is being done pro bono does not nullify that responsibility.
One, the women were far from litigious (depends on your definition of course but to me taking a year and using everything from humor to begging in an attempt to resolve the case without going to litigation is the opposite of litigious).
Two, they did not have the resources to sue the posters - unless I misunderstood the article, Google's legal firm is representing them for free because Google wants to have control over any legal precedents that affect their ability to index non-moderated online forums.