A Japanese man is suing Google Inc. to demand that the Internet giant delete terms used by its autocomplete search function because it allegedly violates his privacy, according to his lawyer.
The suit filed with the Tokyo District Court is seeking damages because when the man's name is typed into Google's search engine, words pertaining to criminal acts appear and if someone clicks on them, defamatory articles pop up.
The man, whose name was withheld, believes this was a factor in the sudden loss of his job several years ago and also caused several companies to reject his subsequent applications for work.
The man filed a petition last October with the same district court, demanding Google delete the terms in question from its search function. The court approved the petition March 19, but the man says Google has not contacted him since about the matter.