The right to be forgotten is up on the list of things that Google doesn't like

Jun 17, 2014 14:28 GMT  ·  By

Google is reportedly looking for ways to fight against the “right to be forgotten,” the latest privacy rule established in the European Union. Basically, Google doesn’t want to be straddled with the responsibility of having to decide what content it should display and what data it shouldn’t return to someone’s search results page.

The European Court of Justice decided not too long ago that the search engines operating in the European Union, which include Google, Bing, Yahoo and more, need to follow a new set of rules. Users are allowed to ask companies to remove links leading to content they feel is no longer relevant.

The ruling left the door open to a world of abuse, but Google was quick to set down some ground rules. For instance, if people want to hide their criminal records, that won’t be possible. That is also the case when the request stems from a desire to hide references to financial schemes, children abuse and more.

The problem is that the ruling doesn’t allow for an objective approach because how relevant some data is varies from one individual to another.

Even the court admitted that a balance between the right to be forgotten and the right of the public to know had to be reached. Basically, only links that are old and irrelevant must be removed.

According to The Register, however, Google is lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right time to make a move. That move would happen after the European data protection registrars finish their review of the bill about user data privacy, which is scheduled for August.

Then, the company would be able to send back link-removal requests from citizens to the Information Commissioner’s office. If the office decides in favor of the complaints, the company can appeal the decision, which means that it would earn a lot of time to build a system that would allow it to more easily figure out which requests to approve and which to deny.

It would also be enough time for Google’s lobbyists to do their work and convince European leaders that the law needs to be changed. One thing is clear, the company doesn’t want the added responsibility of making decisions that could turn against the company.

It is rather surprising, however, that Google doesn’t accept the ruling, since, if it decides not to grant the request, it can simply push the matter to the European courts and then the heavy decision would be on the judges’ shoulders.