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Government lawyers have gone to the internet giant Google in their bid to shut down a website that "names and shames" Child, Youth and Family Services social workers.
Auckland lawyer Andrew Tetzlaff, who has acted in the past for a Google subsidiary, confirmed yesterday that Ministry of Social Development lawyers had contacted him because the site had been set up using Google's Blogger technology.
He said he had no continuing involvement with the company and had simply passed on the ministry's messages to a Google contact in the United States.
Ministry chief executive Peter Hughes vowed on Tuesday to get rid of the website.
By late yesterday, 44 postings had named 40 CYFS social workers, lawyers and others involved in taking children from their parents. Most postings were from parents, although some were from relatives, friends and children themselves.
A Kensington Swan lawyer, Hayden Wilson, said the use of an offshore-based blogger system could force the ministry into complicated legal action unless Google agreed to shut down the site.
He had acted for organisations attacked by other defamatory websites and the internet hosting companies had agreed to close them.
"In my experience the larger international companies are very responsive when the issue is brought to their attention," he said.
But if Google did not agree, the ministry would have to seek a court order and then go to a US court to have it enforced.
