Jim Hood (Photo : http://jimhood.org/)
Google is legally retaliating against a Mississippi attorney general by suing him to block him from targeting the search engine giant.
A top lawyer from the Internet firm is alleging Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood to be working secretly with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in targeting Google.
Hood is demanding Google to filter out illegal content that can be found in its search engine.
The California-based firm filed a federal lawsuit on Friday in Mississippi, claiming that the attorney general is involved with a "sustained campaign of threats" against the tech giant.
In October, Hood filed a 79-page subpoena, which demanded that Google hand over sensitive data from the search engine's operations, including data about certain ads for imported prescription medicine.
Hood is forcing Google to produce 141 documents, conduct 62 interviews and more information regarding "dangerous content" to respond to Hood's subpoena, which will disrupt the online giant's business.
A couple of hours after the search engine giant's legal action, Hood issued a statement later that day saying that he is "calling a time out."
In addition, Hood is also planning to "reach out" to the board of directors at Google to "negotiate a peaceful resolution."
The MPAA's campaign against Google was revealed in the recent Sony hacking in November, where emails containing sensitive data were stolen and leaked to the public.
The secret campaign of MPAA produced several lawsuits against the tech giant in Mississippi even without relation to Hollywood or films. One example is MPAA's lawsuit against the Android developer regarding black market pharmacy links in the search engine.
In Google's perspective, the MPAA is responding to the failed SOPA bill (Stop Online Piracy Act) by campaigning against in 2012. The bill was not pushed through due to the outcry of over 110,000 websites and a signed petition with around 10 million signs.
Google's respond to Hood's "time out" remains to be seen.
