At present, the responsibility of Internet search engines for content published by third parties is a matter of debate in Argentina and in various parts of the world.
The claims of individuals who want to be deleted from these search engines, either because the information disseminated in them harms them or because an unauthorized use of their image is being made, as is the case with famous artists -be they models, actors or actresses, athletes, officials, among other figures- are increasingly recurrent and came to knock on the doors of the courts.
Many of the victims have already obtained the issuance of precautionary measures in their favor, which allowed to suspend, block or annul links, made by search engines, between their name (or image) and pages of sexual content, companions, sex trafficking or simply defamatory.
In this context, compensation is usually claimed for the damages suffered although, for the moment, there are few judgments that were announced in favor of this type of claims.
Recently, Judge Juan Pablo Rodríguez, in charge of the National Court of First Instance in Civil Matters number 62, rejected the lawsuit for damages initiated by the actress Paola Krum in 2007 for violation of different very personal rights such as her honor, her image and her privacy.
According to the actress, by including her name in the respective search fields, she was directly linked to sites of dubious reputation, sexual content, companions or sex trafficking.
"Since in Argentina there is no specific legislation applicable to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and, in particular, to search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, and to social networks, the judge had to resolve the issue by applying the civil liability rules contained in the Civil Code," explained Fernando Tomeo, a lawyer specializing in new technologies.
In that regard, the magistrate considered that search engines could not be held strict liability for the mere fact that there are illegal and harmful content on the network of very personal rights, published by third parties, whose pages are accessed through search tools.
Background
The first sentence issued in Argentina in relation to this issue was issued in 2009 in the case promoted by Virginia Da Cunha, the model and former member of the musical group Bandana in which the search engines Google and Yahoo of Argentina were sentenced to pay her the sum of $ 100,000 in concept of moral damage for the improper and unauthorized use of her personal image.
In August 2010, the Civil Chamber revoked that sentence and the file is currently in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
The second precedent dates from March 4, 2010, in the case carried out by the model Belén Rodríguez against the same search engines, which gave rise to the sentence in the first instance although the file is currently in the Civil Chamber awaiting the issuance of a new sentence.
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