Europe and Canada embrace right to be forgotten.

• Position: PRIVACY

The right to be forgotten (RTBF) is gaining ground. Both Europe and Canada have implemented RTBF regulations and are looking at extending it beyond national boundaries.

Europe's RTBF regulations went into effect May 30, and by July 3 Google already had received nearly 70,000 requests to remove links to content on some of the world's largest news sites. The European Court of Justice, the highest court in the European Union, ruled in June that European users should have the right to be forgotten on the Internet. It decided there were certain cases in which Google and other Internet companies should allow online users to be "forgotten" after a certain time by erasing links to web pages "unless there are particular reasons, such as the role played by the data subject in public life, justifying a preponderant interest of the public."

Thus, Google and other Internet companies would have to remove web pages if requested, even if the original "publication in itself on those pages is lawful." If the provider doesn't remove the link to the "offending" information, the user can take the matter to the appropriate authorities to obtain, under certain conditions, the removal at the Internet company's expense. The officials will then weigh "legitimate interest of Internet users potentially interested in having access to that information" and the individual's fundamental right to privacy and to the protection of personal data. The decision to remove links, according to the court, would depend on the "nature of the information in question and its sensitivity for the data subject's private life and on the interest of the public in having that information, an interest which may vary, in particular, according to the role played by the data subject in public life."

BBC News Business Economics Editor Richard Preston announced to readers on July 2 that BBC had received notice from the search giant that it would no longer be able to show a blog Preston wrote in 2007 in response to certain searches on European versions of Google. There was no additional information provided, including why the link was no longer going to be available via the search engine. Had the individual who was the main subject of the news item requested its removal? After some...