Former MP joins thousands demanding right to be deleted from Google
A former British MP has jumped on a ruling by the European Court of Justice, made just three days ago, by asking Google to expunge unflattering details of their life from its search results.
The unnamed politician was cited by a report in the Telegraph which drew attention to a host of unsavoury characters; including convicted criminals and a paedophile, who are hoping to slip back into anonymity.
Since the judgement, which gives people the right to block links to information held about them online, more than 1,000 people have made contact with Google UK to do just that.
The European ruling grants individuals the ‘right to be forgotten’ in cases where personal data held on them ‘appear to be inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purpose for which they were processed and in the light of the time that has elapsed’.
This forces Google to remove links to requested information although the information itself will remain online and freely available for discussion on social media, much to the chagrin of free speech campaigners who complain the measure is an attack on transparency.
A Google spokesman said: “The ruling has significant implications for how we handle takedown requests. This is logistically complicated - not least because of the many languages involved and the need for careful review. As soon as we have thought through exactly how this will work, which may take several weeks, we will let our users know.”