Government

Do You Have a ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Online?

European Commission Proposes Right to Be Forgotten LegislationAmid the increasing availability of personal information on the Internet and what some call archaic laws governing how long data can be kept and if/when it should be removed, the European Commissioner is seeking to give people “the right to be forgotten.”

This “right” is a proposed privacy law that would improve upon the 1995 Data Protection Directive in the European Union, giving citizens more control over their information on the Internet. Ars Technica explained that the ”‘right to be forgotten’ [would] allow people to demand that organizations that hold their data delete that data, as long as there is no legitimate grounds to hold it.”

(Related: Does 25-year-old legislation adequately protect internet privacy?)

Jeffery Rosen, a law professor at George Washington University, gives this example in the Stanford Law Review of how the right to be forgotten could affect certain websites:

The right to be forgotten could make Facebook and Google, for example, liable for up to two percent of their global income if they fail to remove photos that people post about themselves and later regret, even if the photos have been widely distributed already.

Watch this news clip about the proposed right to privacy:

In an age where data collection is considered more extensive and the lines of personal privacy rights are blurred more frequently, the “right to be forgotten” sounds like an attractive measure. Ars Technica reports Christian Toon, who leads information security at a firm called Iron Mountain, as saying:

“Many businesses of all sizes are falling short of what is required to manage information responsibly. [...] Regardless of turnover, sector or country of operation, making sure that employee and customer information is protected should be common practice, not a reaction to new legislation.”

But some see this law as imposing a form of censorship. Rosen explains that there is a difference between European and American view of the balance between privacy and free speech. He offers this example:

In theory, the right to be forgotten addresses an urgent problem in the digital age: it is very hard to escape your past on the Internet now that every photo, status update, and tweet lives forever in the cloud. But Europeans and Americans have diametrically opposed approaches to the problem. In Europe, the intellectual roots of the right to be forgotten can be found in French law, which recognizes le droit à l’oubli-or the “right of oblivion”-a right that allows a convicted criminal who has served his time and been rehabilitated to object to the publication of the facts of his conviction and incarceration. In America, by contrast, publication of someone’s criminal history is protected by the First Amendment, leading Wikipedia to resist the efforts by two Germans convicted of murdering a famous actor to remove their criminal history from the actor’s Wikipedia page.

Rosen goes on to point out that such a law would place a burden on several parties involved:

According to the regulation, when someone demands the erasure of personal data, an Internet Service Provider “shall carry out the erasure without delay,“ unless the retention of the data is ”necessary“ for exercising ”the right of freedom of expression,” as defined by member states in their local laws. In another section, the regulation creates an exemption from the duty to remove data for “the processing of personal data solely for journalistic purposes, or for the purposes of artistic or literary expression.” Essentially, this puts the burden on Facebook to prove to a European commission authority that my friend’s publication of my embarrassing picture is a legitimate journalistic (or literary or artistic) exercise. If I contact Facebook, where I originally posted the embarrassing picture, it must take “all reasonable steps” on its own to identify any relevant third parties and secure the takedown of the content. At the very least, Facebook will have to engage in the kinds of difficult line-drawing exercises previously performed by courts. And the prospect of ruinous monetary sanctions for any data controller that “does not comply with the right to be forgotten or to erasure”-a fine up to 1,000,000 euros or up to two percent of Facebook’s annual worldwide income-could lead data controllers to opt for deletion in ambiguous cases, producing a serious chilling effect.

David Lindsay, an associate law professor at Monash University in Australia, understands there is a “complex relationship” between online privacy and freedom of speech but he believes the proposed regulation would “level the playing field,“ giving consumers who may not understand ”the consequences of surrendering their information” the opportunity to backtrack. Lindsay writes, acknowledging that it would be difficult to implement the law in some cases with the viral nature of the Internet, that he doesn’t see it as “cure-all“ but as a ”check on some of the most harmful online practices.”

In the United States, a piece of 25-year-old legislation called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act governs much of our digital privacy. In terms of the potential for seeing a similar proposed privacy update as that of the “right to be forgotten” in the U.S., Reuters reports in a recent Q&A that several “do-not-track“ bills were seen in 2011 but they are expected to be ”watered down” and could potentially take a while before being passed.

(H/T Gizmodo)

Comments (51)

1 2
  • amdoktor
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 11:18pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbJs5A1g6bA&feature=youtu.be
    I read thru the obamacare bill and found a interesting section starting about page 1003/ FDA.
    They will start a Class II and Class III device, personal info, bank account, and locator in a chip everyone must receive. by March 2013. See link from you tube above + others on you tube. When are the people of this Nation going to awaken from their slumber and stop the tyranny of our Government.
    This can only be described as the mark of the beast. Please fact check this, I hope I’m wrong, but
    it seems it is finally trickling out. Our Main stream media has been told to keep this quite as usual.
    God bless us all

    Report Post » amdoktor  
  • loneindividual
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 11:13pm

    Right to self-determination. Right to privacy. Right to correction of removal of one’s own words that he or she writes…unless there has been a crime committed and the removal is intended as a cover up.

    Report Post » loneindividual  
  • omgfolks
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 9:42pm

    I should think that if the person who enters something into the net should have the reasonable belief that he or she should be able to delete it. This only seems fair and reasonable.

    Report Post »  
  • skitrees
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 8:23pm

    Sorry EU – government doesn’t create “rights” – all it can do it create breakable laws.

    Report Post »  
  • TexBork
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 6:03pm

    A right to be forgotten online? I’m not so sure that for the most part I already am not.

    Report Post » TexBork  
  • Wyoming
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 5:55pm

    What if that right is to force you into silence truth because it is about someone? If you want to be forgotten – stay off the Internet.

    Report Post » Wyoming  
    • spasm
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 7:23pm

      google your name. you look deep enough you will find yourself. including info on where you live, who you are related to, pictures of you even if you did not post them. it does not matter if you are active on the internet because your information is…

      Report Post »  
  • Rowgue
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 5:36pm

    You can pass all the laws you like, but the simple fact is that once something is available on the internet it isn’t going away. You can tell the company that is the source of the information to discontinue displaying it or retaining it, but a million people already have it archived and spread to a million other people.

    People just need to start exercising a bit of caution and stop freely passing out all kinds of information about themselves to every website they stumble across on the internet.

    Report Post »  
  • DrManhattan
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 5:24pm

    I support a right to be forgotten. Why? Think about this situation: someone is falsely arrested, maybe through a case of mistaken identity. However, public records laws allow that person’s mugshot to be posted on mugshot sites online, even though that person is totally innocent. That picture shows up at the top of Google search results. That person now has a much harder time getting a job (or a date). Without a right to be forgotten, the web is undoing the work of the judicial system. Here’s a great blog post on this: http://www.abine.com/wordpress/2011/on-the-internet-you%E2%80%99re-guilty-forever-even-when-proven-innocent/

    Report Post »  
  • 2theADDLED
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 5:04pm

    Ever made a online purchase and return to the same site months later and they still have your billing info ?
    Trusting that company has proper security is foolish.

    Report Post »  
  • lukerw
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:28pm

    If GOD gives a Right, it is forever… Government issued Rights are Relatively Temporary and result in a Power over the individual!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • DividedWeFail
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:18pm

    Why should the videos of you as a child your parents or sisters posted on the internet or what you wrote as a child or teen or even young adult or any information that is OLD be kept on the internet?

    Europeans are FAR AHEAD of Americans on protecting their banking and medical information, etc. Why are corporations allowed to tell US how to use our information? BECAUSE companies pay millions to lobbyists and give millions to line politician pockets AND because politicians can easily get personal information on their enemies and use it against them. It is a win win for crony capitalism and politicians but not for Americans.

    Report Post »  
    • DividedWeFail
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:30pm

      Even unsecured debts (credit cards, auto loans, etc) by law must be removed after 7 years from your credit report

      (Unless you are stupid enough to make a payment and start that 7 year clock again) All you have to do is WRITE (never EVER EVER use the on-line credit bureau forms – you will be screwed if you do – use snail mail ONLY) and say “This debt is 7 years old – remove it” DONE!!!

      Note: NEVER EVER NEVER EVER NEVER EVER give credit bureaus a copy of your tax forms, drivers license, payment stub or copy of cell phone bill as PROOF of where you live or who you are. Your driver‘s license number is GOLD as anyone can type it in and get your driver’s record . Ditto letting a credit bureaus proof how much you make. And don’t give them your telephone number in the form of sending them your phone bill.

      If a credit bureau want proof of you you are/where you live – SEND THEM a copy of your water bill – who care’s about that and it has your address on it. Or your cable bill. If you send a phone bill or driver’s license – BLACKEN OUT COMPLETELY your phone number and driver license number BEFORE sending it in. (note credit bureaus don’t always remove 7 year old debts – YOU MUST snail mail write them and TELL THEM to do it if they don’t.

      Report Post »  
    • RightThinking1
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 5:12pm

      “Why should the videos of you as a child your parents or sisters posted on the internet or what you wrote as a child or teen or even young adult or any information that is OLD be kept on the internet?”
      My question is, why would you post it there in the first place? To do so is the equivalent of publishing it in a newspaper. You no longer have any *reasonable* expectation of privacy so far as that information is concerned. Just don’t do it! People act as though the internet is the only way of communicating with others, they have allowed themselves to unnecessarily become dependent upon technology.

      Report Post »  
  • USNSPARKS
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:14pm

    I find it disingenuous of Blaze to put this story on their web site. My Do Not Track Plus add on to Firefox shows 14 separate tracking sites were blocked by it. These are places that track every site you visit. Supposedly it is so they can send advertising that’s targeted directly to me. Personally I don‘t think it’s anyone’s business what sites I visit. DNT+ can be DLed for free from http://www.abine.com/dntdetail.php. Most browsers are covered. If you use Firefox you might also want to get Privacy Plus and BetterPrivacy. They will delete the “super cookies” that track you also. Super cookies are not deleted with a normal ‘remove cookies’ maneuver on a browser.

    Report Post » USNSPARKS  
    • DividedWeFail
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:33pm

      I downloaded http://www.ghostery.com.

      The Blaze has at minimum 8 sites (Usually more) tracking me when I come come here. I can SEE exactly who is tracking me at the upper right hand side of my screen.

      Report Post »  
    • DividedWeFail
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:41pm

      Here is what http://www.Ghostery.com CURRENTLY shows that is trying to track me when I log onto The Blaze.

      Note: Even my main credit union uses Google Analystics yet my 3 other credit unions and my USAA bank had no tracking sites when I logged on.
      The Blaze tracking sites
      Audience Science
      ChartBeat
      DoubleClick
      Facebook Connect
      Google +1
      Google AdWords Conversion
      Google Analytics
      Media6Degrees
      NDN Analytics
      New Relic
      Omniture
      Parse.ly
      Quantcast
      ScoreCard Research Beacon
      Twitter Button
      Vertical Acuity
      Visual Revenue
      Zedo

      Report Post »  
    • DividedWeFail
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 5:21pm

      USN Sparks

      I downloaded the DNT+ website and it said skies clear – no tracking or something to that effect.

      BUT I COULD NOT TYPE COMMENTS ONTO THE BLAZE because even though I was logged in, the Blaze said I had to log in to comment. WTH?> I had to go to the green button on that Block Site and “TURN OFF” the blocking for TheBlaze alone and then REFRESH http://www.theblaze.com to be able to type comments on the The Blaze.

      I’ll still keep http://www.ghostery.com because it BLOCKS the crap TheBlaze and other sites allow in to track us.

      http://www.abine.com/support.php
      HIT REFRESH after downloading for it to work

      BUT disabling DNT+ just to be able to make comments on TheBlaze (even if logged in) defeats the purpose for using DNT+ because it allows The Blaze to track you.

      Report Post »  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 6:08pm

      People really have no idea how tracking cookies work do they? The firefox addon doesn’t indicate whether a site is safe from tracking or not, it only informs you when it’s actively happening, and it’s quite bad at that task to begin with.

      You could have picked up those tracking cookies anywhere. All that addon is telling you is that they are active when you’re on this website, which tells you nothing except that you’ve got tracking cookies ON YOUR COMPUTER.

      If you’re going to go to sketchy websites use a cheap seperate laptop to surf all the sketchy sites, and keep your real computer only for use with legit trusted sites. If you get tracking cookies on that cheap machine that you don‘t use for your legit stuff then there’s no need to care about the tracking. And everyone by this point should have garbage email accounts set up on one of the multitude of providers that give you free email to use when you need to give an email address in order to log into a forum or something.

      The idiom “don’t mix business with pleasure” couldn’t be more on target in regards to the internet.

      Report Post »  
    • BSdetector
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 10:10pm

      http://noscript.net/
      not only tells you whats tracking you, but blocks the script from running unless you actively allow it to run. It takes some tweaking when you use a new site but it‘s the safest thing I’ve found so far.

      Report Post » BSdetector  
    • 2theADDLED
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 10:59pm

      @ Rowgue
      One session on the blaze will get you about 38 cookies I use a port monitor to monitor the connections to the open ports and who they belong to.

      Report Post »  
    • USNSPARKS
      Posted on February 21, 2012 at 3:02pm

      DIVIDEDEFAIL: That’s strange that you had to allow some blocked DNT+ sites before you could comment on the Blaze. I didn’t have to do anything before I posted my comment. BTW being on the Blaze doesn’t mean you are logged on. Having to log in before commenting on a site is pretty normal. I’ll check that Ghostery. I also use NoScript that some have mentioned here.

      Please Email me, use my ID with @EPBFI.COM You referred to something I’d like to discuss with you.

      Report Post » USNSPARKS  
    • Rowgue
      Posted on February 25, 2012 at 12:39pm

      @2THEADDLED

      That doesn‘t mean it’s actually THEBLAZE that’s tracking you. It just means that whoever made the cookies wants to track people that visit THEBLAZE. You’ll get tracked by law enforcement by going to certain flagged websites, but it‘s not the website that’s tracking you. It’s the government. The fact that a tracking cookie is activated when you visit a site tells you nothing other than that somebody wants to track visitors to that site.

      Tracking cookies are usually not deployed by a website on it’s own website. If you’re really concerned about it the real question you should be asking is: who is interested in tracking people that are visiting THEBLAZE and why.

      Report Post »  
  • Slowman101
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:12pm

    As for me, I do not care to have a lot of my personal information available to strangers online.

    Report Post »  
    • ldaopines
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 5:49pm

      I’m with you. See my post below. I have a real sympathy for people who are stalked or afraid of someone who’s violent. You are totally exposed just because you vote, have utilities, own a home, etc.

      I read a hint about protection of privacy, and it suggested that you get a PO Box in a neighboring city that you use for utilities, general mailing, and non-personal letters. Only your immediate friends/family would send to your home. You can pick the PO stuff up weekly, and that will post as your address by aggregators who collect that information.

      Report Post »  
  • Jenny Lind
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 3:50pm

    Some days I wish I could delete my internet, my cell phone, my address and just sort of go poof, until I really need them again. Junk mail, junk e-mail, sales calls, etc, just makes me a bit crazier than I already am, and just a bit of peace and quiet would be nice. Some information never should be out there in the electronic world, we are learning that too late.

    Report Post »  
  • amerbur
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 3:38pm

    No. I think we need to be held responsible for our actions. It may take a few generations to learn that there are consequences to bad behavior. I do not think we should let fungus grow in the dark, unchecked by shame.

    Report Post »  
    • old white guy
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 3:50pm

      question. why would anyone give a rats ass about my rants or any other of the millions of us who post billions of comments everyday???

      Report Post »  
  • smokey888x2
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 3:12pm

    Political figures NO (no deletion of past) – you play, you stay // general public YES (can delete)

    Report Post » smokey888x2  
  • LauraPZ
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 3:05pm

    Given the amount of data on ALL of us, that is gathered, bought, sold, and shared, without our knowlege or consent- YES, I’d like to see more privacy on the internet.
    That being said- people also need to use SOME degree of common sense. The world is full of predators- and **** Sapien Sapiens, the most dangerous. And deceitful. “Be careful out there”.

    Report Post »  
  • LibertyAtStake
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 2:39pm

    Our creator endows us with the rights unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There are no other “rights” – only privileges and constraints imposed by the civil society and gub’ment. If your pursuit of happiness puts you at odds with either, you have a responsibility to deal with it.

    d(^_^)b
    http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
    “Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive”

    Report Post » LibertyAtStake  
    • Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 3:28pm

      Surely you can wrap your mind around the reality that they didn’t foresee this kind of data gathering and unauthorized invasion of privacy, especially not on the scale that it is happening. They weren’t prophets.

      Report Post » Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American  
  • Byrdi
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 2:31pm

    People should be able to delete their own information. Period.

    Report Post »  
    • Baddoggy
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 2:36pm

      Yea….just try that…see how far you get.

      Report Post » Baddoggy  
  • Itsjusttim
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 2:24pm

    It’s funny how they struggle so hard to make the U.S the land of sin, and make free the coastal regions around it. I sense the move for anonymity in many foreign nations, but to confine and mark all U.S citizens. That’s funny, as if the Lord Almighty doesn‘t know what you’ve been doing all along.

    Report Post » Itsjusttim  
  • ldaopines
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 2:10pm

    I pay a service to scrub my personal information off of the internet. Even then, I had to personally submit a formal request to 3 information aggregates (like Intelius) who won’t allow services to remove information. Those formal requests all required a copy of my driver’s license in order to get information blocked. I didn’t appreciate having to send that either for MY OWN PRIVACY.

    Before I did this, you could see my address, unlisted phone, photos of me from work websites with work address/phone, what political candidates I voted for, photo of my house, etc, etc. …just by googling my name. I DON’T participate in any social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. on purpose, and I changed my default browser from Google.

    If I want someone to have my address and phone information, I’ll give it to them. What prompted this? Some mentally ill man who’s been in prison for violating restraining orders found our address after 25 years and wrote asking for $400. Now he knows where we live. How does THAT feel? There is also a former elementary teacher (male) we testified against who not only molested our son, but several others who also testified. He‘s out now and I don’t really care to be found by him. Why should we have to worry about these things? Just because we vote and have utilities and a house, it’s open season. I deserve to live without fear.

    Report Post »  
    • DividedWeFail
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:20pm

      Which service did you use to scrub your information from the web?

      Would you recommend it and use it again?

      Report Post »  
  • trolltrainer
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 1:41pm

    No. You have the right not to make a fool out of yourself online.

    Report Post »  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 1:39pm

    Those wacky Europeans and their zany laws,it‘s no wonder they’re crumbling.If you don‘t put personal information online ie facebook or google you won’t have to worry about your privacy,just go off grid.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 2:26pm

      Already am for the most part; i do not deal with facebook or a lot of sights that demand information. The main problem is that how much info the Fed’s already have on everyone, and how much more that most of us could only wonder – nightmare scale wonder.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Baddoggy
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 2:40pm

      snow…people can find you so easily it isnt even funny. You are not off the grid man. They could find your art you sell and trace you and that is just the start. I could show up at almost anyones house that I wanted to find with a little time and money. It is not hard.

      An ex girlfriend that i had a restraining order against 30 years ago showed up at my house last year. Ot was not hard to find me either.

      Report Post » Baddoggy  
    • Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 3:33pm

      PROGRESSIVESLAYER

      You’re wrong. All you have to do is use the internet at all. Tracking cookies that compile profiles on you and your net activity and then send those profiles back to be sold to advertisers are picked up by you from major websites and smaller websites simply by visiting them. You almost certainly have them on your computer now. So do I. You pick them up EVERYWHERE. It’s a growing controversy right now, with the extreme extent of privacy invasion coming to light only recently. We need laws in place to limit this ability to compile unauthorized info on people in secret.

      People are worrying about big brother spying on them when big business has been doing it all along and making money off of it.

      Report Post » Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American  
    • progressiveslayer
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 3:52pm

      Bible quote If you‘re off grid no credit cards all cash it’s harder to track you.

      Report Post » progressiveslayer  
    • Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 4:06pm

      Straw man. That’s just not going to be the reality for most people in modern society. Companies prying into and selling your information needs legal limits. Period.

      Report Post » Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American  
    • Baddoggy
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 6:10pm

      I have often said the mark of the beast could be computer usage…What do you use? Hands and forehead…just sayin’

      Report Post » Baddoggy  
    • Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 6:20pm

      Cool story, bro.

      Quick! Name 100 other things that involve using your head and your hands! Go!

      Report Post » Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American  
  • marhee9
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 1:30pm

    Wouldn‘t it be great if the left could just scrub everything they’ve ever said off the internet? Then John Kerry would have always been against it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMbxtBIQX-I

    Report Post »  
  • Plan B
    Posted on February 20, 2012 at 1:29pm

    I would definately like a law such as this in the US.

    Report Post »  
    • smithclar3nc3
      Posted on February 20, 2012 at 1:47pm

      This law is being considred to erase the past of politicians. he77 no

      Report Post »  
1 2

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love