Court orders Google to block images

LONDON — A French court ruled Wednesday that Google must remove from its Internet search results all images of a former Formula One car-racing chief at an orgy. The ruling in the privacy case could have ramifications for the tech giant’s operations across Europe.

Max Mosley, the former president of the International Automobile Federation, filed the lawsuit in September to force Google to automatically filter from its search engine links to images from a British newspaper report in 2008 that included photos and a video of Mosley participating in a sadomasochistic sex party.

In 2008, the former Formula One head successfully sued News of the World newspaper in a London court for breach of privacy and was awarded about $96,000 in damages.

On Wednesday, the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris backed Mosley’s attempts to force Google to block references to the images from appearing in Google’s search results worldwide. The company said it would appeal the decision.

Mosley argued that French law made it illegal to take and distribute images of an individual in a private space without that person’s permission. But Google said that would limit freedom of speech, forcing the company to block search results without any person or court overseeing the context in which the images appeared.

Analysts said the ruling against Google could lead to greater restrictions on what was accessible through search results and could prompt more people to demand that the U.S. technology company remove references to their private activities.

“At this point in time, the pendulum is swinging toward individuals’ privacy and away from freedom of speech,” said Carsten Casper, a privacy and security analyst at the consulting firm Gartner in Berlin.