Google Loses Landmark Privacy Case in Spain

[drmike]

CNN reporting on this...

People have the "right to be forgotten" and search engines like Google must remove certain unwanted links, Europe's top court decided in a surprise ruling Tuesday.

The case, which spotlighted the clash between privacy and freedom of information advocates, centered on a Spanish man's efforts to remove historic links to his debt problems.

In its decision, the European Court of Justice found operators of search engines such as Google were the "controller" of information. They were therefore responsible for removing unwanted links if requested.

"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," the judges said in a statement about the ruling.

A Google spokesman, in an email to CNN, said the ruling was "disappointing," and that the company needed time to "analyze the implications." Google had previously argued it was only hosting the data and said it was up to the individual websites to remove the data.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/13/business/google-right-to-be-forgotten/index.html

 

[HBAndrei]

Well, it only seems fair, they should do the same case against facebook, who refuses to actually remove your info from their servers, even if you delete your account.

 

[Dylan]

This is a terrible blow against free speech. Imagine a politician using this decision to have true yet negative information, which could decide an election, removed...

 

[Conky]

People have the "right to be forgotten" and search engines like Google must remove certain unwanted links, Europe's top court decided in a surprise ruling Tuesday.

Do we have the right to be forgotten though? A part of me things anyone should be able to appeal something that appears in a result from Google and another part of me thinks it would be abused and should not be allowed. I don't want to search for someone or something and only find 'good' things about it, because they got all the 'bad' removed.

 

[willie]

I wonder if it will affect subscription services that only sell the info privately.  If not, that doesn't seem good.

 

[HostSailor]

I believe organizations such as google and facebook are required by the NSA to keep your data intact for later use, just my thoughts.