Digital Smarts - The ”Right To Be Forgotten” Law Faces Many Hurdles

This spring, European courts upheld a law forcing Google Spain to remove links to personal information from its site that compromised the privacy of an individual. The search company responded with a digital request form, giving web users an opportunity to erase links to web pages that they feel invade their privacy, but the process has sparked some opposition. Opponents of the new law -predominantly journalists and media outlets — argue that allowing individuals and companies to take down unflattering articles is akin to censorship, and that removing informative articles from web searches is an infringement on free speech. While so far this only applies to Europe, the definition of the “right to be forgotten” bears watching as it is sure to spill over into the privacy debates here in the states as well.