Europe's top court: people have right to be forgotten on Internet

[Wilikon]

People can ask Google to delete sensitive information from its Internet search results, Europe's top court said on Tuesday.

The case underlines the battle between advocates of free expression and supporters of privacy rights, who say people should have the "right to be forgotten" meaning that they should be able to remove their digital traces from the Internet.

The ruling by the Luxembourg-based European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) came after a Spanish man complained to the Spanish data protection agency that an auction notice of his repossessed home on Google's search results infringed his privacy.

The case is one of 180 similar cases in Spain whose complainants want Google to delete their personal information from the Web. The company says forcing it to remove such data amounts to censorship.

"If, following a search made on the basis of a person's name, the list of results displays a link to a web page which contains information on the person in question, that data subject may approach the operator directly and, where the operator does not grant his request, bring the matter before the competent authorities in order to obtain, under certain conditions, the removal of that link from the list of results," the judges said.

"An Internet search engine operator is responsible for the processing that it carries out of personal data which appear on web pages published by third parties," they said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/13/eu-google-dataprotection-idUSL6N0NZ23Q20140513


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Would this right apply beyond private companies?

[umair127]

I had a freind that had there whole apartment info and door number on google, he tried to get it removed, but nothing gotten removed, he now is paranoid that is home address and name is on google, yes google should have a program where people can delete personal info that shouldnt be on there unless it was a business.

[pedrog]

I had a freind that had there whole apartment info and door number on google, he tried to get it removed, but nothing gotten removed, he now is paranoid that is home address and name is on google, yes google should have a program where people can delete personal info that shouldnt be on there unless it was a business.

Google doesn't store personal information, it's a search engine, your friend need to contact the website that stores is information...

[TECSHARE]

I had a freind that had there whole apartment info and door number on google, he tried to get it removed, but nothing gotten removed, he now is paranoid that is home address and name is on google, yes google should have a program where people can delete personal info that shouldnt be on there unless it was a business.

Google doesn't store personal information, it's a search engine, your friend need to contact the website that stores is information...

LOL. Bullshit. They probably store more data than the NSA, and they store literally every electronic and even some postal communications.

[m5j0r]

Talking about Google:
Does anybody have any info on how long Google keeps user-deleted data? (Like mail, drive etc.)

Some say it's 6 months, some a few years. I haven't found any official information. Plus, it seems to be impossible to contact Google. Seriously. There's only a few standardized forms, but nothing for inquiries like that.

I admire the Google founders for what they've created (extremly profitable business model) but they've also invented the most efficient personal privacy hell. Like facebook.

[pedrog]

I had a freind that had there whole apartment info and door number on google, he tried to get it removed, but nothing gotten removed, he now is paranoid that is home address and name is on google, yes google should have a program where people can delete personal info that shouldnt be on there unless it was a business.

Google doesn't store personal information, it's a search engine, your friend need to contact the website that stores is information...

LOL. Bullshit. They probably store more data than the NSA, and they store literally every electronic and even some postal communications.

I was referring to the search engine, i.e., google.com.

[tvbcof]

I remember back when Carnivore and the like were found about under Admiral Poindexter many years ago.  The peoples (through our govt here in the U.S.) said, 'Hey, this is to creepy and weird.  Don't do it.'  The Poindexter's said, 'OK, you win.  We'll stop.' and marched ahead doing exactly what they wanted to do and in fact accelerated their activities greatly.

What laws and regulations are or are not passed means very little to me about what activities are going on.  For my part I consider all of my on-line activities, movements, purchases, communications, etc to be logged and able to be called back at any time for whatever reason and I've felt that way for some time.  The purpose of the surveillance state is the same as every one which came before it.  Intimidation.  Understanding things from a technical standpoint is the best way to remain as unintimidated as practical.

[practicaldreamer]

Yes - everyone has the right to be forgotten - and about time too.

Also, we have a right to change our minds - and self determine, over time , who we wish to be. Not effectively have Google/Facebook/Rupert Murdoch etc determine and demarcate our choices  - and those of others in their relations to us.

Makes me cringe to see the stuff that people share online - often, in my view, through naivety. But they should have the right to change their minds in the future - that is, we should be allowed to learn, develop and evolve.

If the right to retract information held about ourselves isn't available - then the holders of that information are in a position of control. The relationship between myself and Google shifts from being one of consensus to one of power [they hold it and I don't].

Of course, Google/NSA/GCHQ will always have that info available to them come what may - but that info shouldn't be allowed to be used as leverage by them via the threat of public availability (via a search engine for eg.).

Lots of issues here coincide with those of the Leveson Inquiry


I guess if the holders of the info are democratically elected (ie. by the general will of the people) and aim to make that info available in the public interest then that would be a different arguement. The arguement, for eg, that the whereabouts of known paedophiles should be publically available. I dunno.

[Wilikon]

Would this right apply beyond private companies? Can people in my government forget about me too or, instead, ask google to keep my data available to them for months and years to come...?

What about the crooks as senators and congressmen? Will they ask anything bad about them to be deleted too? What about potential presidential candidates?

[umair127]

I had a freind that had there whole apartment info and door number on google, he tried to get it removed, but nothing gotten removed, he now is paranoid that is home address and name is on google, yes google should have a program where people can delete personal info that shouldnt be on there unless it was a business.

Google doesn't store personal information, it's a search engine, your friend need to contact the website that stores is information...

yes your right but the website done nothing for them, contacted them and still left that sensitive info out.  They even made threats of a lawsuit against them and nothing.

[Wilikon]

Now, the BBC reports that Google has received fresh takedown requests, from a former politician who’s currently seeking re-election and who wants mentions of his “behaviour in office” deleted. Also, a man convicted of owning images of child abuse has requested links about his convictions to be removed, while a doctor has sought to delete negative reviews from his patients.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ case was proposed by the European Union in 2012, and it essentially means that an individual should be allowed to request that outdated or irrelevant information be removed from a company’s servers and therefore removed from being publicly accessible on the Web. The case was brought about by a Spanish man, Mario Costeja Gonzalez, whose name returned 16-year-old news articles about his sale of properties when he got into financial difficulties, which he wanted removed from the Web. Ironically, his past has become much more well-known since the outcome of this case.

Though the EU ruling this week is still likely to be challenged from many quarters, we’re already beginning to see the implications this could have across the Web. And it will become increasingly difficult for Google, Microsoft and the rest to start censoring specific results. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that Google will create a mechanism for German users to request the removal of links to information within the next two weeks.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/05/15/politician-paedophile-doctor-already-asked-google-forgotten-says-bbc/