Google moves to give Europeans the ‘right to be forgotten’

Google has taken the first step to ensure European citizens have the "right to be forgotten" by launching a service through which people can request the removal of links to material about their personal lives that they deem objectionable.

The service ia response to the European Union Court of Justice ruling on May 13 that said links to "irrelevant" and outdated data on search engines should be erased on request. The test case — initiated by the case of a Spanish man who failed to get Google to delete information about the auction of his repossessed house — underlines the battle between advocates of free expression and supporters of privacy rights, who say people should have the right to remove their digital traces from the Internet.

Google said on Thursday that it has made available a Web form through which people can submit their requests. Since the ruling, Google has received thousands of removal requests, according to a person familiar with the situation.

"In implementing this decision, we will assess each individual request and attempt to balance the privacy rights of the individual with the public's right to know and distribute information," reads the form that Google made available on Thursday.

To make a request, a person must submit a digital copy of an official identification, such as a valid driver's license, and select from a drop-down menu of 32 European countries the appropriate country whose law applies to the request.

Google says in the form that when evaluating requests, it will consider whether the results include outdated information about a person, as well as whether there's a public interest in the information, such as information about professional malpractice, criminal convictions and the public conduct of government officials.

The form includes space for users to submit objectionable links and a box for the person to explain why the link is "irrelevant, outdated, or otherwise inappropriate."

However, the company stopped short of specifying when it would remove the links. Google says it is "working to finalize our implementation of removal requests under European data protection law as soon as possible. In the meantime, please fill out the form below and we will notify you when we start processing your request."

Google also said it has convened a committee of senior Google executives and independent experts to try and craft a long-term approach to dealing with what's expected to be a barrage of requests from the region's roughly half-billion occupants.

The decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union places Google in a tricky position as it strives to interpret the EU's broad criteria for objectionable links, and to remove certain content from its search engine while preserving its popularity as a resource for users to find all information.

Google will also face a logistical challenge in processing requests in various languages, some of which are in countries that Google does not even have operations in. Failure to remove links that meet the EU's broad criteria for take-down can result in fines.

Google has said it is disappointed with the EU ruling, and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said the balance the court struck between privacy and "the right to know" was wrong.

Yahoo Inc which also operates a search engine in Europe, has previously said it is "carefully reviewing" the decision to assess the impact for its business and its users.

Microsoft, which operates the Bing search engine, has previously declined to comment on the ruling. 

Al Jazeera and Reuters