The Tokyo District Court approved a petition demanding that Google Inc. suspend its autocomplete search feature for Internet browsers after a man alleged that it breached his privacy and got him fired, his lawyer said Sunday.
Google is refusing to suspend the feature, saying that its headquarters in the United States will not be regulated by Japanese law and that the case does not warrant deleting the autocomplete suggestions related to the petition under its in-house privacy policy, lawyer Hiroyuki Tomita said.
The case, which was adjudicated on March 19, is believed to be the first to order the suspension of the Web search feature, which attempts to instantly anticipate and list the words or phrases a person will type into a browser's search box, Tomita said.
The man, whose name was withheld, decided to seek a court injunction after learning the autocomplete feature likely played a role when he suddenly lost his job several years ago and caused several companies to subsequently reject him when he applied for new jobs, Tomita said.
The man discovered that when people type his name into Google's search engine, words suggesting criminal acts, which he is unfamiliar with, appear. If the computer-suggested words are selected, more than 10,000 items defaming or disparaging him show up in a list, Tomita said.
Before turning to the court last October, the man asked Google to delete certain words. Google rejected the request on the grounds that the suggested words were being selected mechanically, not intentionally, and thus do not violate his privacy, the lawyer said.
"It could lead to irretrievable damage, such as job loss or bankruptcy, just by displaying search results that constitute defamation or violation of the privacy of an individual person or small and medium-size companies," Tomita said.
"It is necessary to establish a measure to enable swift redress for damage in the event of a clear breach," Tomita said, adding that the man will take further legal action to prompt Google to comply if the Internet giant continues to neglect to act.
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