On 19 March, Tokyo District Court ordered Google's United States headquarters to delete the autocomplete results violating a Japanese man's privacy. But Google rufused and stated "We're not regulated by Japanese laws.", and he's not yet relieved from the damage and loss.The Mainichi Shimbun reported in Japanese, and I summerized in English.
When typing his real name a word related to crimes appears as a suggestion with his full name, and if you choose it the search result shows articles insulting him.
A few years ago the man was fired by his employer without his fault. After that he tried to get a job, but all the companies said "No". He hired private detective agency and knew that 10,000 slander articles, which says as if he commited a crime, are posted on the Internet and that the suggeting function leads to the libellous posts.
The man and his lawyer asked Google at first, but Google did not help him. Tokyo District Court ordered the removal to both Google US and Japanese headquarters in October last year. Japanese HQ claimed only United States HQ has authority. So the man stopped asking Japanese HQ. United States HQ insisted "Just arrangement of words is not violation of privacy. Words are selected by computers and we don't arrange them arbitrarily." Google also said "We will not delete the result according to our Privacy Policy."
Google's search engine is also used in Yahoo! Japan search, and so Google monopolizes virtually in Japanese search engine share.
The man who wanted his name deleted in search results was a member of gang rape group "Super Free". He claimed he didn't belong to its gang rapes, but I doubt it. He must have known the group's sex crimes, and he should have stopped the rapists and have reported the police. He did NOTHING to save the victims. He tried to escape his guilt. He is the same as the rapists.
