In May 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that people had a “right to be forgotten”. So individuals could have links to articles about them expunged from search engines.
It meant that the most popular search engine, Google, was required to delete “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant” data from its results whenever a member of the public requested it.
Since the court’s ruling, thousands of requests have been made by people seeking to protect their privacy by having links to freely accessible web pages taken down.
But the right to be forgotten (a right to privacy) clashes with another key right: the right to know (plus freedom of speech, freedom of information and press freedom). In effect, removing such material interferes with the historical record.
As if the court’s decision wasn’t controversial enough, then the aftermath has proven to be even more contentious because we know so little about the requests, how and why delinking choices are made and, of course, the identities of the individuals who make them. In the supposedly transparent digital world, the method of removal remains opaque.
These are some of the problems explored in a new book by my colleague at City, University of London, George Brock.* And he will present his findings prior to a panel discussion at the university next month.
Among the other speakers will be Julia Powles (Cambridge University), Paul Bernal (University of East Anglia) and Peter Barron (Google’s London-based head of communications). It will be chaired by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ).
The event is being staged on 12 October at City, University of London, starting at 6.30pm, with a drinks reception afterwards. To sign up for the event, go here.
*The right to be forgotten - privacy and the media in the digital age by George Brock (RISJ, £25)
