Google loses British case about 'forgetfulness' with regard to conviction
A British judge has instructed Google to remove search results in a case filed by a businessman. The information about a conviction of the man would no longer be relevant.
The Guardian writes that the case may have “far-reaching consequences” and that the judge recognizes that the granting of the complainant’s claims can result in that more of this kind of business will be filed. In the present case, it concerned two complainants, one of which was claimed by the one and that of the other was rejected. In both cases, the complainants demanded removal of search results about their conviction, which linked to news reports in different media. Google refused to remove the results.
In the case lost by Google, the judge ruled that the complainant had “repented” and that the information about the crime and punishment is outdated and irrelevant, and not enough value anymore has for Google users to make longer availability necessary. In the rejected case, the judge said that the convict still deceived people and had not expressed regret. The complainants had completed jail sentences of six months and four years respectively.
Google said in a reaction to the newspaper that “it respects the verdict”. It said: “We are working hard to comply with the forgetfulness, but also pay attention that we do not remove any public interest results and we will defend the right of access to legitimate information.”
European Court of Justice ruled in May 2014 that Europeans have a ‘right to be forgotten’, which forced search engines to remove urls from the search results if the information constitutes a privacy breach. Since then, Google has received around 654,000 removal requests for 2.4 million URLs across the EU. The search giant wrote in a recent transparency report that it has removed 900,000 between May 2014 and February 2018.
In the case lost by Google, the judge ruled that the complainant had “repented” and that the information about the crime and punishment is outdated and irrelevant, and not enough value anymore has for Google users to make longer availability necessary. In the rejected case, the judge said that the convict still deceived people and had not expressed regret. The complainants had completed jail sentences of six months and four years respectively.
Google said in a reaction to the newspaper that “it respects the verdict”. It said: “We are working hard to comply with the forgetfulness, but also pay attention that we do not remove any public interest results and we will defend the right of access to legitimate information.”
European Court of Justice ruled in May 2014 that Europeans have a ‘right to be forgotten’, which forced search engines to remove urls from the search results if the information constitutes a privacy breach. Since then, Google has received around 654,000 removal requests for 2.4 million URLs across the EU. The search giant wrote in a recent transparency report that it has removed 900,000 between May 2014 and February 2018.