Google and the Right to be Forgotten

Back in May, the European Court of Justice (EJC) ruled that if requested to do, a search engine must remove links to outdated and irrelevant information that is not in the best interest of the public. It was a monumental decision that many people were disappointed with, including search engine powerhouse Google. However, many people were pleased and have since decided to utilize the new “right to be forgotten.” In fact, since the ruling in May, Google has received more than 70,000 requests for link removals.

The ruling states that Google is responsible for reviewing takedown requests, determining which ones are valid and then taking the appropriate action. Even though Google publicly disagrees with the ruling, it's doing it's best to comply with the EJC and has started the process of removing links. It has even set up a council of independent advisers to review the requests.

According to David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, to determine what’s in the public interest, the council is taking into account criteria including, “whether the information relates to a politician, celebrity or other public figure; if the material comes from a reputable news source, and how recent it is; whether it involves political speech; questions of professional conduct that might be relevant to consumers; the involvement of criminal convictions that are not yet ‘spent’; and if the information is being published by a government."

This process can be incredibly subjective and difficult. The ultimate issue that the "right to be forgotten" hits on is forcing Google to continually choose between an individual’s privacy versus the public’s right to know.

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