CC image courtesy of brionv on Flickr
Google has taken steps to comply with a European Union (EU) court ruling indicating individuals have the “right to be forgotten”.
The company has launched a service allowing European residents to request the removal of links appearing in search results should they find them objectionable, making available a web form through which individuals can log their requests.
The form allows individuals to specify which URLs they want removed from Google search results and requires a user to submit a copy of their EU identification.
The company said it would balance an individual’s right to privacy with the public’s right to know when considering requests.
“When evaluating your request, we will look at whether the results include outdated information about you, as well as whether there’s a public interest in the information—for example, information about financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public conduct of government officials,” the company said.
It said it would be working with a panel of data protection authorities over the next few months to refine its approach.
However, the Financial Times reports the EU ruling will hurt the next generation of startups and will aid repressive regimes in censorship.
“We’re a big company and we can respond to these kind of concerns and spend money on them and deal with them, it’s not a problem for us. But as a whole, as we regulate the internet, I think we’re not going to see the kind of innovation we’ve seen,” Google chief executive officer (CEO) Larry page is quoted as saying.
He said the system could be used for nefarious purposes.
“It will be used by other governments that aren’t as forward and progressive as Europe to do bad things. Other people are going to pile on, probably… for reasons most Europeans would find negative.”
