美国国家公共电台 NPR The Man Who Spent $100K To Remove A Lie From Google

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

In Europe, if you find a webpage about you and you don't like it either because it says something not true or because it's too personal, you can make Google hide it from the search results. It is the law. Google has done this with more than a million pages. Now, here in the U.S., even in the most blatant¹ cases the law does not protect people this way. Here's NPR's Aarti Shahani reporting for our series on speech in the digital age.

AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE²: When Wall Street investor³ Jeff Ervine searched his name on Google in 2010, the first result was a website called Con⁴ v. Con.

JEFF ERVINE: And I clicked on it. And it went to a picture of my wife and I.

SHAHANI: He was in a tuxedo⁵, she in an evening gown. They looked rich.

ERVINE: And I clicked on it again.

SHAHANI: And the site said Ervine, who'd managed billions of dollars, was in fact a con artist who tried to trick a know-nothing kid into a sweetheart deal.

ERVINE: It was very dark and sociopathic in nature in terms of what he was writing.

SHAHANI: He, the author of the website, was a 26-year-old who hated Ervine because Ervine helped put him behind bars.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How Hakan Yalincak got to this point in his life is a story of a brilliant college kid.

SHAHANI: That's CNBC reporting on Hakan Yalincak in 2007. Yalincak was a New York University student swindling investors⁶ out of millions of dollars. He got caught. Ervine helped do it. In this interview on the eve of Yalincak's 42-month sentence, he sounded remorseful⁷.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HAKAN YALINCAK: I didn't need to be so ambitious, be so greedy. And now for the rest of my life, no matter what I accomplish, this will always be there.

SHAHANI: But it turns out the young man was terribly vindictive⁸. After serving his time and getting deported⁹ to Turkey, he made sure Ervine would pay by publishing that website, Con v. Con, which was full of lies. At first, Ervine shrugged¹⁰ it off. But then prospective¹¹ clients and partners kept bringing it up.

ERVINE: And I would go into meetings, and I'd spend the first 15 minutes explaining this story.

SHAHANI: It was after the financial crisis, after the Bernie Madoff scandal. Not a great time to try to explain yourself.

ERVINE: Because even if it wasn't true, and - no one would take a career risk.

SHAHANI: Ervine knew he couldn't talk any sense into his attacker. But he assumed he could get Google on his side. He had his lawyers fax and mail a letter to Google's chief counsel with a simple request - please stop highlighting this one site. Google ignored the request. Ervine was shocked.

ERVINE: You are helpless. And you're hopeless. And what can you do? It's like slut shaming or anything else that goes on on the Internet today.

SHAHANI: Google holds the position that in the U.S., it's not obligated to remove defamatory content, lies from search results. It'll consider doing so as a matter of discretion¹² if there is a court finding. So Ervine's lawyers ran into court and sued. It took more than a year to establish jurisdiction¹³, to serve the papers overseas and to win. The final court hearing is extraordinary. Judge James F. Holderman, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, he apologized to Ervine on behalf of the American justice system. He said, quote, "you in my opinion have done everything right. You have been a model citizen. You have assisted your government in exposing and prosecuting¹⁴ fraud on other people. And then you are victimized. I wish I could do more," end quote. For Ervine, winning didn't feel like victory.

ERVINE: I had to have my lawyers write to Google with the judgment¹⁵ saying, we have obtained the judgment that this is false and defamatory. We'd like you to take it down. And then...

SHAHANI: And then it takes a few months for Google to respond that, yes, they'd help, and then another month to actually do it. Only the help felt a bit like a slap in the face because Google decided¹⁶ to add a disclaimer in alarming red letters that Jeff Ervine's search results have been altered. It looked like he had something to hide, not like Google had made the mistake of highlighting fake news.

ERVINE: There's no humanity or kindness in Google. There's none. It's not about anyone else. It's all about Google.

SHAHANI: NPR submitted to Google a summary of Ervine's case and asked what happened. A spokesperson says, I'm not really sure why it took a while to respond, and we don't comment on individual cases. Jeff Ervine says his reputation was damaged, and it hurt his career. Today he's building a tech company called Bridg-it to protect people like him, others attacked online. He doesn't want anyone else to pay like he did. All told, Ervine spent about a hundred thousand dollars in legal fees. In Europe he would have just filled out a form. Aarti Shahani, NPR News, San Francisco.

1 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

4 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

5 tuxedo   

n.礼服，无尾礼服

参考例句：

• Well,you have your own tuxedo.噢，你有自己的燕尾服。
• Have I told you how amazing you look in this tuxedo?我告诉过你穿这件燕尾服看起来很棒吗？

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 remorseful   

adj.悔恨的

参考例句：

• He represented to the court that the accused was very remorseful.他代被告向法庭陈情说被告十分懊悔。
• The minister well knew--subtle,but remorseful hypocrite that he was!牧师深知这一切——他是一个多么难以捉摸又懊悔不迭的伪君子啊！

8 vindictive   

adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的

参考例句：

• I have no vindictive feelings about it.我对此没有恶意。
• The vindictive little girl tore up her sister's papers.那个充满报复心的小女孩撕破了她姐姐的作业。

9 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

12 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

13 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

14 prosecuting   

检举、告发某人( prosecute的现在分词 )； 对某人提起公诉； 继续从事（某事物）； 担任控方律师

参考例句：

• The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
• Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。

15 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。