A Dad Took Photos of His Naked Toddler for the Doctor. Google Flagged Him as a Criminal.
Mark noticed something amiss with his toddler. His son’s penis looked swollen and was hurting him. Mark, a stay-at-home dad in San Francisco, grabbed his Android smartphone and took photos to document the problem so he could track its progression.
It was a Friday night in February 2021. His wife called an advice nurse at their health care provider to schedule an emergency consultation for the next morning, by video because it was a Saturday and there was a pandemic going on. The nurse said to send photos so the doctor could review them in advance.
Mark’s wife grabbed her husband’s phone and texted a few high-quality close-ups of their son’s groin area to her iPhone so she could upload them to the health care provider’s messaging system. With help from the photos, the doctor diagnosed the issue and prescribed antibiotics, which quickly cleared it up.
But the episode left Mark with a much larger problem.
In December 2021, Mark received a manila envelope in the mail from the San Francisco Police Department. It contained a letter informing him that he had been investigated as well as copies of the search warrants served on Google and his internet service provider. An investigator, whose contact information was provided, had asked for everything in Mark’s Google account: his internet searches, his location history, his messages and any document, photo and video he’d stored with the company. The search, related to “child exploitation videos,” had taken place in February, within a week of his taking the photos of his son.
After getting a notice two months ago that his account was being permanently deleted, Mark spoke with a lawyer about suing Google and how much it might cost. “I decided it was probably not worth $7,000,” he said.
Does anyone think Google is PRIVATE and they are not looking at everything that people put on there site? This is a lesson learned. No photos of any body parts for any reason!
Take Im yourself or your child to a walk in clinic or the emergency room. I hope this persons doctors office come to his rescue. What was the outcome?? I’m curious to know if this person thinks all he went through really protected his child against anything.
This is what happens when idiots are given authority.
It’s worth a lot more than $7,000.
Booth Google and Facebook (and arguably, Twitter and TikTok) have far too much influence on the minds of Americans.
And Google has definitely advanced hateful content against Registered Persons while making it difficult for Registered Persons to find us.
I opened up a browser I don’t regularly use and typed in “help for sex offenders” as that’s what many looking for help would do. And a lot of tratment and legal sites came up before even the largets of groups (ACSOL and NARSOL). Most Registrants don’t even know we exist!
This is infuriating but nothing anyone’s had to join the registry for— yet.
Look, if a medical professional or ANYONE advises you to take or transmit digital pictures of that nature, just say no, ok?
More instances like these, are a perfect situation for the public to come to understand, just how ridiculous, and easy it is to be charged with a sex offense! Hopefully it opens more people’s eyes, to the absolute Idiocracy of the laws,and judicial system!