14 DAY TRIAL // Complying with the “Right to be forgotten” ruling in Europe has become quite complicated and comes with plenty of challenges.
The company replied in a lengthy letter to questions forwarded by the data regulators in Europe, the Article 29 Working Party. The Internet giant says that it most often lacks the necessary information about whether or not some links should be removed from search results upon request.
“We generally have to rely on the requester for information, without assurance beyond the requester’s own assertions as to its accuracy. Some requests turn out to have been made with false and inaccurate information. Even if requesters provide us with accurate information, they understandably may avoid presenting facts that are not in their favour. As such, we may not become aware of relevant context that would speak in favour of preserving the accessibility of a search result,” the letter reads.
The company gives an example about a person being convicted of a number of crimes back when he or she was a teenager. The request omits to specify that the old article is actually relevant now due to the fact that the person was once more convicted of similar crimes as an adult, information which appears in more recent articles.
It is also possible that a requester may not disclose a role they play in public life, for which their previous reported activities or political positions are highly relevant.
As a reminder, Google is now forced by a European Court of Justice decision to remove links that are no longer relevant. The requests are made by individuals who believe various bits of information should not be linked to search result pages of their names.
Google has done its best to set down some ground rules about what type of information can be removed, or more specifically, what information cannot be removed – criminal activity, professional malpraxis, financial fraud, political discourses and more. Each request is analyzed individually, and the nature of the ruling makes it impossible for Google to create an automated system to deal with the tens of thousands of requests.
Of course, it’s not just Google that’s affected by the decision, but also other search engines. In Europe, however, Google handles over 90 percent of searches in the area.
Google’s letter comes after the European data regulators have asked the search engine and other similar services, including Bing, to explain how they handle the court ruling. The Internet giant replied at length, explaining how the form they set up works and what type of information it requires before removing content. It also focused on the issues that the decision has raised, including the objectivity of such decisions and other people’s right to be informed.