You Can Now Ask Google to Forget You!

Tech blogs practically blew up last week, as the highest EU court ruled that ordinary people have a ‘right to be forgotten’ on Google. What could this mean going forward?

Google Rankings and Online Reputation

Oliver Rawlings blog readers, whether you like it or not, until this moment you haven’t really had too much control over what showed for your name on Google. If you did something stupid years ago and somebody wrote about it, it would be up there, and unless it was defamatory, there wasn’t much you could do to get rid of it.

Naturally, this made a lot of people angry, as silly mistakes that they had long left behind came back  to haunt them in later life, often stopping them from getting jobs, securing business etc. This could now be a thing of the past, at least in the EU, thanks to the case that established the ‘right to be forgotten.’

The Case That Established the ‘Right to be Forgotten’

The case itself was lodged by a Spanish citizen who asserted that an auction notice on his repossessed home that featured on Google invaded his privacy. He said that a search for his name brought up newspaper articles of the auction from 16 years ago that were outdated and no longer relevant.

From there, the case pitted the Spanish mans right to privacy against Google’s legendary endorsement of blanket freedom of speech. It went all the way to the highest EU court, The European Union Court of Justice.

Google lost. In its ruling, the court found that Google must remove search results when specifically asked to by ordinary people, in cases where it is “outdated” or “irrelevant.” The exceptions lie in the concept of public interest, so an active politician, for example, would not be eligible, because the public has an interest in their prior conduct.

The Removal Exodus Has Begun

The ramifications of this ruling are already hitting home. The BBC reported that it had found that one ex politician has already lodged removal requests. Going forward at the moment, it means that you can use the normal Google Removal tool to request the search engine take down data falling under the rulings remit.

We have no idea how this is going to play out yet, but one thing is clear. As far as the EU goes, the days of absolute Google rule are coming to an end!