The Right to Forget

Delicate balance between privacy and free expression

Google has just won a judgment with important implications at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The court ruled that the European Union’s (EU’s) Right to Forget regulation could only apply within the jurisdiction of the EU. Hence, Google and others can geo-selectively remove links to information within the ambit of that regulation. The Right to Forget, or Right to Erasure, lets individuals in the EU request that search engines remove links to some categories of embarrassing information, or personal data, on the Internet. The information may remain available, but it can no longer be found via a simple search.