Google has received over 70,000 “right to be forgotten” removal requests, with links to numerous news sites being removed by the company, according to a report
In May Google took steps to comply with a European Union (EU) court indicating individuals have the right to be forgotten.
The company posted a web form allowing residents of the region to request the links of search results be removed should they find the content contravenes their privacy.
Reuters reports the company had removed numerous links to Britain’s The Guardian and other newspapers in the country.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) economics editor Robert Peston said Google had “killed this example of my journalism”, referring to the removal of certain 2007 postings about former Merrill Lynch chairperson Stan O’Neal.
The Guardian had also been informed that six links to its stories had been removed.
However, Google went back on its decision to remove the Guardian’s links.
The newspaper protested against the removal of links to stories describing how a soccer referee lied about reversing a penalty decision.
The incident highlights the difficulty in vetting “right to be forgotten” requests.
“At least as it looks now, there are definitely some unworkable components,” Electronic Frontier Foundation activist Parker Higgins is quoted as saying.
“We’ve seen a number of situations in the past few days, where somebody in an effort to get a certain thing forgotten has brought more attention to it than ever was there before.”
Google has indicated it is still grappling with the EU ruling.
“This is a new and evolving process for us. We’ll continue to listen to feedback and will also work with data protection authorities and others as we comply with the ruling,” the company said.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
