Google appeals Spain mandate to take down links

MADRID: Lawyers for Google are appealing demands by Spanish authorities that the U.S. company delete links to websites containing information that officials say violate Spaniards' privacy rights.

The cases dealt with Wednesday include a surgeon who was absolved of charges of malpractice in a case in 1991, but a Spanish newspaper reference to the original case still crops up whenever his name is keyed into Google's search engine.

Google Inc. says it's the first case of its kind and that a Spanish decision mandating the deletion of the links could hurt freedom of expression.

Spain's Data Protection Agency says it went after Google on the request of the individuals involved and because the original publishers of the links cannot legally be ordered to take them down.