Uploading a nude childhood photo on Google Drive cost a man access to his email account for nearly a year and forced him to knock on the doors of the Gujarat High Court.
The high court has issued a notice to Google India Pvt Limited for blocking the email account of the petitioner for "explicit child abuse" after he uploaded on Google Drive a photo of his grandmother bathing him when he was two years old.
The court of Justice Vaibhavi D Nanavati on March 15 issued notices to Google, the Central and state governments returnable on March 26.
The petitioner, Neel Shukla, a computer engineer, uploaded childhood photographs on Google Drive, including a picture of him being bathed by his grandmother as a toddler.
The tech giant blocked Shukla's account in April last year for violating its policy regarding such contents showing "explicit child abuse", his counsel Dipen Desai told the court.
Shukla moved the high court on March 12 after the company failed to resolve the issue through its grievance redressal mechanism, he said.
Desai informed the court that since Google blocked the email account, Shukla has been unable to access his emails and this has caused losses to his business.
The petitioner, in his plea, said, "Google says this amounts to 'explicit child abuse,' and they have blocked everything. I have not been able to access my email and my business (is affected) as everything is blocked." Shukla had approached the Gujarat police and the Centre's Department of Science and Technology, the nodal agency for such matters in India, but they also failed to act, and he was forced to seek judicial remedy.
The petitioner also requested an urgent hearing, as he received a notice from Google stating that the data linked to his account would be deleted in April, a year after it was rendered inoperative.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Suspense Continues Over Vinesh's Medal Verdict, New Deadline Is...
Google Rolls Out New AI-Powered Accessibility Features for Pixel, Android Devices Former Google CEO Says Tech Giant Is Losing To OpenAI Because It Supports Work From Home, Work-Life Balance Google Pixel 9 Series, Watch 3, and Buds Pro 2 Get New AI Features at the Made by Google Event 150 mg Semen In Kolkata Doctor's Body, Suspect Gang-Rape: Parents To Court Starbucks' Indian-Origin CEO, Recently Fired, Never Worked Past 6 pm Vandalism At Kolkata Hospital Where Doctor Was Raped, Tear Gas Fired 1.4 Million Afghan Girls Banned From Schools Since Taliban Return To Power US Judge Says "Monopolist" Google Can't Avoid App Store Reforms NASA To Decide Stranded Starliner Astronauts' Route Home By End Of Month Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.