A cross-party group of MPs and peers are urging the Government to introduce legislation that forces Google to censor search results that a court has found to be in breach of someone’s privacy.
The committee heard evidence from ex-Formula 1 boss Max Mosley on how he spent a large sum of money removing Internet traces of a secretly filmed video by the now defunct News of the World. Despite a UK court upholding Mosley’s right to privacy, Google still had links to the offending video.
Google defended its position by upholding the principle of the unfettered flow of information. Their reputation has been built on the search engine’s relevant and unbiased search results without the influence of corporations or Governments. In exceptional circumstances they have censored search search results but only under extreme pressure or where there is strong evidence of the web community hijacking search results.
While one can sympathise with individuals with a genuine issue with privacy, legislation would be unworkable.
See our earlier blog post: George Bush’s miserable failure and the Michelle Obama image.
See the full article here: Google should be forced to sensor search results
