EU accuses Google of distorting privacy rule.

• Position: PRIVACY - European Union - Brief article

The European Union's Justice Commissioner, Martine Reichert, recently chastised Google and other search engines for intentionally undermining the EU high court's recent right-to-be-forgotten (RTBF) privacy rule. Reichert contends that the search engines are purposely distorting the essence of the law by claiming it will allow anyone to get virtually anything deleted from the web if they deem it unfavorable or inconvenient.

This controversial ruling is part of the EU's effort to reform its data protection laws. It allows individuals to be "forgotten" by petitioning search engines such as Google to remove links to web pages containing personal information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, outdated, etc. Only the links need be removed; the actual web pages remain intact. The search engine can reject the request if it determines the public interest trumps the individual's right to privacy, at which point the applicant can appeal to a national data protection authority.

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