A recent ruling by a top European Court has forced Web companies offering search engine and online publishing services like Google Inc to comply with anyone who has submitted a request to take down links and personal information from their results list. BBC said the ruling was for a complaint lodged by Spanish lawyer Mario Costeja Gonzalez, who had wanted Google to stop showing a search result with links to information about his home that was auctioned off when he had ran financial difficulties 16 years ago.
The British news outlet said that the law invoking the "right to be forgotten" has been first proposed two years ago. Google had opposed tat particular measure, saying that it promotes censorship, with Index on Censorship also warning that the ruling could give people power to whitewash their personal history.
On the other hand, there are certain individuals who rejoiced, just like Costeja Gonzalez, about the ruling. UK's first youth police and crime commissioner Paris Brown, for one, could be one of the many who would opt for her right-to-forget rules. Brown became national fodder when comments she made when she was 14 portrayed her as a homophobic and racist.
The young generation of today who are out hunting for their first job could also opt to use their "right to be forgotten." It is a known practice now for employers to check an applicant's online history for potential views and images that could be damaging to the company if they consider hiring such applicant.
A university student said to BBC, "People often say that potential employers Google or Facebook your name. There are pictures of me next to toilets full of vomit, and drunken pictures in nightclubs. Things make their way online that I would rather potential employers or future partners didn't see."
On the other hand, the news outlet pointed out several groups of people who can greatly benefit from the right-to-forget rules. Victims of domestic violence, for one, can move on with their lives without the stigma associated from their violent past, said an anti-domestic violence advocate. The right-to-forget rule could also go in tandem with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act in the UK, as past convictions could be sealed after a certain period of time for people who do not wish to make known of such facts to potential employers. Asylum seekers and those who wish to suppress a piece of information and obtain an injunction to receive press about such action could also benefit from the right-to-forget rule.
But a public policy expert said that legislators need to step in to provide limitations to the rule. Head of public policy Ben Wilmott at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said on employers' online evaluation of prospective candidates, "There's a question mark over how and when employers should use the information they find on Google 'fishing expeditions'. What this law could do is refocus employers - they'll have to go back to asking if this person is the right person for the job strictly on the basis of their qualifications."
