JACKSON — Mississippi’s attorney general says he still considers Google’s responses to allegations that it’s not doing enough to prevent illegal online sales of drugs without prescriptions and says he’s sending out subpoenas for company documents to further his investigation.
Attorney General Jim Hood urged fellow attorneys general from other states to do the same at a meeting in Boston Tuesday, even as Google made its fullest response to date to the allegations.
Hood, a Democrat, says the Mountain View, Calif.-based company hasn’t adequately responded to requests by himself and the National Association of Attorneys General to discuss sites that sell drugs without prescriptions, as well as that improperly link to copyrighted music, videos and other material.
“We in good faith invited Larry Page, chief executive officer of Google, to have an open, honest and transparent conversation about these important issues that are putting consumers at risk and facilitating wrongdoing, all while profiting handsomely from this dangerous behavior,” Hood said in a statement. “Google’s lack of response leaves us no choice except to issue subpoenas to Google for possible violations of state consumer protection acts and other state and federal civil and criminal laws.”
The move could be the first step toward a criminal or civil prosecution of the company, and Hood has likened the possibility to the blockbuster litigation that a predecessor of his pursued against tobacco companies.
Hood also said he would send evidence of illegal drug purchases to the U.S. Department of Justice. Google paid $500 million to the federal government in 2011 to settle claims over ads sold to pharmacies that were illegally shipping drugs into the United States. Hood said Google has breached the agreement it made with federal officials.
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