European Court Orders Google Honor "Right to Be Forgotten"

The highest court in Europe has ordered Google to honor requests to be removed from search engine results.

People may now ask the mega-corporation to delete search results in which they are listed. This ruling will not require such pages to be removed from the Web, only deleted from Google search results.

The decision was based on a “right to be forgotten.” Plaintiffs in the case argued this right gives individuals control over old personal information which is publicly available. The advocate general for the European Union stated last year the right does not extend to search engine results.

The court wrote, “the object of the national laws on the processing of personal data is to protect fundamental rights and freedoms, notably the right to privacy, which is recognized both in Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms… and in the general principles of Community law.”

This decision will also affect operations for other search engine providers in Europe. The ruling could also change the way companies outside Europe do business.

The judgment reads “the fact that the processing of data is carried out… in a third country must not stand in the way of the protection of individuals.”

Companies like Google and Microsoft may now be forced to obey by European privacy laws worldwide. Otherwise, they would need to carefully edit search results for European users.

http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?

text=&docid=152065&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1

&cid=282937

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/

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wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB100014240527023038518

04579559280623224964.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/14/technology/google-should-erase-web-links-to-

some-personal-data-europes-highest-court-says.html

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

idUSL6N0NZ25S20140513

http://www.newsday.com/business/technology/google-must-allow-users-a-say-over-

personal-info-european-court-rules-1.8005723