Google has recently come under fire due to their compliance with the European Union’s “right to be forgotten”. In May, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled against Google in a case concerning this right, saying that Google could be forced to remove search results regarding a person’s name, if requested. Since Google began compliance on May 30 2014, they have received over 70 000 requests, with a thousand more coming in every day. Media organizations like the Guardian are calling the removal of their articles censorship, and that it is an assault on the right of freedom of the press. While they make a valid point, there are many good things that can be said for the right as well. The right to be forgotten should be enshrined as a fundamental human right.
They say history is written by the victors. Thus, our view of past events is seen through the eyes of the successful, as opposed to the downtrodden. Put another way, the right to be forgotten is not new. It has been utilized since humanity discovered language and writing. What is now changing after millennia is who has the right to exercise it. Obscurantism is the practice of hiding or obstructing access to information and knowledge. This has been practiced since the time of the Greek city states in antiquity. The right to be forgotten is essentially a modern updating of this old practice, which allows it to be used by everyone, as opposed to being restricted to use by those in power.
The right to be forgotten is important for people who have made decisions they regret in their life. Humanity is not perfect; we all make mistakes and decisions we are not proud of. We have all made stupid decisions in our lives. However, these decisions can sometimes have a disproportionate effect on our lives. Doing drugs once in your life does not make you a drug addict, but if prospective employers can dig it up, it may kill your chances at getting a job, even if you never did it again. Situations like this, where a single meaningless decision at some point in your past can have a huge impact on your future, are strong arguments in favour of making the right to be forgotten a fundamental human right, in the name of evening the playing field over small mistakes.
This right is even more important for those who have not made mistakes and have instead been wrongfully accused. There have been many instances where an innocent person was declared guilty of a crime he or she did not commit. Even if the innocent person was eventually cleared, he or she would have had to deal with years of the consequences of having a criminal record, as well as the severity of the crime he or she did not commit. It is not fair to submit innocents to the penal system due to flaws in the justice system. These unfairly convicted individuals would at least have some way to mitigate the effects, post-jail, under a clause specifying a right to be forgotten.
Detractors of the right say that it can be abused. The ideal behind the right to be forgotten is the second chance. However unscrupulous and shady people with no intention of reform could abuse the right to expunge records of their activity if they get caught, essentially allowing them to continue their activities unhindered. While this is a valid concern, the right to be forgotten can be superseded by other fundamental rights, and thus does not have to be extended to these unscrupulous individuals, as safety to the public would come first. Another thing that could be done would be to outline certain types of records that could not be erased, or to bar people in certain professions from using the service. This stops things such as politicians hiding their criminal records, or doctors hiding malpractice suits. Regardless of what is done, it is clear that there are many ways to implement the right to be forgotten without opening it up to abuse.
There has also been criticism regarding Google’s handling of right to be forgotten requests. Google has been pretty cryptic about the reasoning behind removing certain articles from their searches, and have also been withholding who has requested them removed. However, these are minor things that will doubtless be ironed out quickly if the right to be forgotten becomes more widely accepted.
The right to be forgotten seems to be a controversial issue, but I think that upon closer inspection, the case for the right to be implemented is stronger than the case against it. Enshrining this as a fundamental human right would offer redemption to many people who are currently being crushed under the weight of their past mistakes.
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