Former German first lady sues Google

Former German first lady Bettina Wulff has taken on Google over search terms that link her name to false rumors that she used to be a prostitute.

When the name Bettina Wulff is typed into Google's search engine, suggested search terms include the words "prostitute" and "red light district".

Google says the auto-generated text reflects what others are already searching for online.

Wulff denies she has ever worked as a prostitute.

Wulff gave a sworn declaration denying all allegations relating to prostitution or escort work before her marriage.

The rumours have spread both online and in various media outlets.

It has been reported they were started in order to disrupt her husband Christian Wulff's political career.

German newspaper Der Spiegel reports she has spent over two years fighting allegations she was once employed as an escort.

"Her lawyers have already issued 34 successful cease-and-desist orders, including one against a prominent German television personality this weekend," the paper notes.

The same paper says a defamation suit was launched against Google last week.

Head of PR for Google Germany, Kay Oberbeck, said the site's search terms were "algorithmically generated" and "include the popularity of the entered search terms".

"All terms that appear have been previously entered by Google users," he added in a statement.

The same text generates in rival search engine Bing.com.

In March 2012 Google was ordered to disable the autocomplete function relating to search results for an unnamed man in Japan, who said his name was being associated with crimes he had not committed.

Google is known to remove totally legal search terms for other reasons too. In 2010, for example, a company spokeswoman said that the search engine blocks certain terms from its quick search enhancement Google Instant for the protection of minors.

That could be one reason that a search under the name "Rocco" on Google Germany first brings up the last name "DiSpirito," a reference to a reasonably well-known cook (in the English-speaking world) with some 560,000 results. This result suppresses a much more popular Rocco in the German-speaking world -- Rocco Siffredi, an Italian actor who has starred in both an independent feminist film and a number of porn films. His name brings up some 17 million search results.

Google doesn't just block search terms of its own initiative. Sometimes the company uses Autocomplete to point the way toward its own services. If a user is logged in to Google and searches for the name of a friend, the company gives prominent preference to that person's Google profile.

It would appear that Google's position on intervening in search results and suggestions depends on the influence of the parties involved. It hides links to pirated material, but not those that violate personal rights, and it places links to its own products prominently in its supposedly objective results.