Embarassing Material Search Filter is Lobbied
Disgraced motorsport executive Max Mosley keeps making attempts to promote an idea to implement search engine filters in order to weed out embarrassing content. Max Mosley should know a thing or two about embarrassing leaks, because he was the one who found himself embroiled in a very controversial sex scandal a couple years ago, courtesy of the defunct News of the World. At the time, the tabloid published pictures of Mosley’s sexual escapades involving 5 sex workers dressed up as prison guards, calling the episode as a “Nazi orgy”. Of course, this didn’t go down well with Mosley, as his father was the leader of the British Union of Fascists. Nevertheless, Max claimed there was nothing Nazi about the kinky role play.
Unsurprisingly, Mosley went on the defensive, and required that newspapers must alert famous people before they publish articles about them, which allow them to block any undesirable reports. However, the European Court of Human Rights disagreed and rejected Mosley’s request, who still believes that it is possible to erase such material from public record. He explains that what should be done is filtering of Google in an attempt to change the past by taking down hundreds of websites and forcing the search giant to stop displaying embarrassing search results.
The problem is that Google have automatic search machines, which means that if somebody puts something up somewhere, if you Google “Max Mosley” it will appear, which is wrong, because the content is illegal, and the photos have been ruled illegal in the English High Court. Max Mosley then took his case to French and German courts, because he believed that continental jurisprudence is more favorable to his demands. Even if the courts ruled that the search giant needs to censor the photos, they won’t be deleted and still be easily accessible. In other words, even if the court rules in his favor, Mosley would have to go back to court and require mandatory filters on various social networks and other engines. Anyway, it is surprising that French and German courts haven’t rejected these requests at once, because the similar demands were deemed illegal by the European Court of Justice.
At the moment, a Google image search for Mosley is mostly legitimate pictures of him, but the engine puts a remark at the bottom that according to a legitimate request submitted to Google, it has removed some results from that page.
Unsurprisingly, Mosley went on the defensive, and required that newspapers must alert famous people before they publish articles about them, which allow them to block any undesirable reports. However, the European Court of Human Rights disagreed and rejected Mosley’s request, who still believes that it is possible to erase such material from public record. He explains that what should be done is filtering of Google in an attempt to change the past by taking down hundreds of websites and forcing the search giant to stop displaying embarrassing search results.
The problem is that Google have automatic search machines, which means that if somebody puts something up somewhere, if you Google “Max Mosley” it will appear, which is wrong, because the content is illegal, and the photos have been ruled illegal in the English High Court. Max Mosley then took his case to French and German courts, because he believed that continental jurisprudence is more favorable to his demands. Even if the courts ruled that the search giant needs to censor the photos, they won’t be deleted and still be easily accessible. In other words, even if the court rules in his favor, Mosley would have to go back to court and require mandatory filters on various social networks and other engines. Anyway, it is surprising that French and German courts haven’t rejected these requests at once, because the similar demands were deemed illegal by the European Court of Justice.
At the moment, a Google image search for Mosley is mostly legitimate pictures of him, but the engine puts a remark at the bottom that according to a legitimate request submitted to Google, it has removed some results from that page.
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