MPs demand Google censor its search results
Google is facing demands to censor any search results which a court finds to be in breach of an individual’s privacy.
The call was made by a cross party group of MPs and peers in a parliamentary report, which cited the case of Max Mosley who had shelled out some £500k attempting to remove a spy cam video of himself from the internet.
Google was lambasted for its “totally unconvincing” objections to previous such requests which were based on a desire to maintain the free flow of information.
The committee said: “Google and other search engines should take steps to ensure that their websites are not used as vehicles to breach the law and should actively develop and use such technology. We recommend that if legislation is necessary to require them to do so it should be introduced.”
Switching their attention to Facebook and Twitter the parliamentarians decreed that High Court privacy injunctions should apply to Twitter and Facebook as much as newspapers.
A list of recommendations includes calls for a beefed up press regulator with the power to impose fines and determine the prominence of printed apologies.