Racing Boss Sues Google to Take Down S&M Photos

Google fears win for Max Mosley could turn it into Internet police
By Shelley Hazen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2014 12:25 PM CDT
Racing Boss Sues Google to Take Down S&M Photos
Max Mosley in a file photo.   (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

The first lesson of sex parties is—don’t let anyone take pictures of your sex party. As former Formula One racing chief Max Mosley can attest, they'll keep popping up in Google searches. Mosley, 74, was photographed partaking in consensual S&M role-play with five prostitutes several years ago, and now he wants Google to make sure the images stop turning up, the BBC reports. He is suing for their removal, claiming Google has breached the UK's Data Protection Act. "As the gateway to the Internet, Google makes enormous profits and has great influence, so I have not taken this action lightly," he says. "But Google should operate within the law rather than according to rules it makes itself."

He is referring to the fact that the photos have already been deemed unlawful by the British courts. In 2008, Mosley won about $100,000 from the now-defunct News of the World, which printed them on the front page with the false claim that the romp was Nazi-themed. If Mosley wins his suit—and he’s won similar claims against Google in French and German courts, though the company is appealing—it would set a "significant legal precedent" in online privacy, reports the Guardian. Google doesn't think it should have to police the Internet to this extent. "It could mean that Internet providers are required to monitor even the smallest components of content they transmit or store for their users," says a spokesperson. (More Max Mosley stories.)

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