Argentina orders Google, Yahoo to block searches on Diego Maradona

Judges in Argentina have ordered Google and Yahoo to block searches on 110 major public figures in Argentina, including soccer star Diego Maradona, from serving up search results on their names. The court ruling is the result of a law suit filed by Martin Leguizamon, a Buenos Aires attorney who has taken on the local versions of the two internet giants on behalf of many of Argentina’s best-known actors, models, sports personalities and judges.

Leguizamon argues that the search engines do not discriminate between links to appropriate material and links to pornographic sites that use the images of some of the models he represents. He says he wants to see big search engines such as Google and Yahoo filtering all their results for pornographic or other content offensive to his clients.

Describing the lawsuit as “completely illogical”, a spokesperson for Google Argentina has told Time magazine, “It would be like suing the newsstand for what appears in the newspapers it sells.” Google Argentina has appealed the court order, and says it will not filter links until the appeal has been decided. [Source: Economic Times ]