French Court Orders Google to Block Sadomasochistic Orgy Image of Former Formula One Boss Max Mosley (VIDEOS)
Type "Max Mosley sado masochistic" on Google Image search and photos of the former Formula One boss will pop up on your computer screen. The images include Mr Mosley tied up and naked while being whipped on the butt by a woman.
It is images like those that Paris's Tribunal de Grande Instance, in a landmark decision, ordered Google on Wednesday to block on its search engine the sadomasochistic photos of Mr Mosley while in orgy.
The 9 images were from a video of the orgy filmed and published by News of the World, a British tabloid that has been shuttered. Following the publication of the photos, Mr Mosley won several lawsuits against the publication of the images, including a libel case against the daily which stated in March 2008 that the orgy was Nazi-themed.
YouTube/Free Speech Debate
Mr Mosley disagreed to the use of the term Nazi since he is the son of deceased fascist leader Oswald Mosley. The judge sided with Mr Mosley in that there was no Nazi theme and publication of the story was not in the public interest.
A French court favoured Mr Mosley and fined 10,000 euro in 2011 Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the daily, declaring that Mr Mosley's right to privacy was breached. But the ruling covered only News of the World, not the Internet where images of the orgy could still be found until now.
Google opposed Mr Mosley's request to block the images in its search engine and said that it would appeal the court's decision. Daphne Keller, Google's lawyer, said, quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald, "This decision should worry all those who defend freedom of expression on the Internet."
She added, "We have removed hundreds of pages for Mr Mosley, and stand ready to remove others he identifies ... But the law does not support Mr Mosley's demand for the construction of an unprecedented new internet censorship tool."
Google was given two months to follow the court's order. The planned appeal will not suspend the court decision.
The search engine giant pointed out that at Mr Mosley's request, it has taken measures so that pages whose contents violate the law in some countries are not included in its search results, but added that filters could also block legitimate news of the court case.
However, Clara Zerbib, Mr Mosley's lawyer said, "The case is not about censuring the content of the internet, it's about complying with the court decision that already ruled it was a breach of intimacy."
The Telegraph quoted Mr Mosley as saying that he had developed a deep interest in sado masochism as part of sexual activity when he was just three or four years old.
YouTube/SexualitytheDoc
In another interview with the Financial Times' Weekend Magazine, Mr Mosley explained: "I think it's like being homosexual. It's a quirk in your character. People have to be adult and simply say, well it's sex and sex is very strange."