Google should censor search results that breach privacy injunctions, according to a report published today by House of Lords and House of Commons Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunction.

The committee was set up after former Formula One president Max Mosley attempted to block Google searches from returning a News of the World story on him, the subject of a 2008 privacy case Mosley won against the now-defunct Sunday tabloid.

In the report, the committee recommends:

major corporations, such as Google, take practical steps to limit the potential for breaches of court orders through use of their products and, if they fail to do so, legislation should be introduced to force them to. An effective deterrent against future breaches of injunctions online would be for the Attorney General to be more willing to bring actions for civil contempt of court for such breaches.

The committee said Facebook and Twitter should also block material that breaches privacy injunctions.

Google has been adamantly opposed to censoring search results, saying doing so would be a threat to the free flow of information.

The search engine giant's shares have rebounded more than 35 per cent off their June 2010 lows of $475.