Tech groups rally around Google in content fight

The tech lobby is mounting its forces to fight against Mississippi's demand that Google hand over information about how it takes down illegal content. The Consumer Electronics Association, the Computer and Communications Industry Association and Engine -- which together represent thousands of tech and startup companies -- filed a court brief warning that Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood is trying to control free speech online.

The move would force smaller companies to either adopt new restrictions for posting content online or go out of businesses, which would “chill the online speech of Internet users who communicate via these platforms,” they wrote. Defenders of Google point to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects Web companies from liability for the content people post on their websites.