The right to be forgotten on Google – News
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 3:18 am
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recently ruled in favour of the Spanish Data Protection Agency in its dispute with Google by ruling that Internet search engine services are responsible for the personal data included in the web pages they process.
The ruling also recognises the existence of a "right to be forgotten" on the Internet, i.e. the right of citizens to ask a search engine to delete links to irrelevant personal information, even if it is true and public, but sets out a series of conditions and limitations. The Court contradicts the opinion of the Advocate General, Niilo Jääskinen, who in June 2013 had ruled in favour of Google.
The dispute dates back to 2010, when the Spanish Data Protection Agency demanded that Google remove from its search results links to an advertisement published in a newspaper for a property auction related to a seizure due to debts to Social Security.
The Agency acted at the request of the citizen mentioned in that advertisement, who claimed that the embargo he was subject to at the time had been fully resolved and resolved years ago and was no longer relevant today, so he did not want it to appear when his name was searched on Google.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the Court of Justice concluded that "the operator of an Internet search engine is responsible for the processing of personal data appearing on web pages published by third parties" and must therefore comply with the EU directive on data protection.
In response to the question whether the austria email address directive allows the data subject to request that links to web pages be removed from the list of results because he or she wishes the information about him or her contained on those pages to be "forgotten" after a certain period of time, the Court of Justice states that "if, following the request of the data subject, it is established that the inclusion of those links in the list is currently incompatible with the directive, the information and the links contained in the list must be removed."
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The judgment states that "even initially lawful processing of accurate data may eventually become incompatible with the directive when, taking into account all the circumstances of each case, the data prove to be inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed and the time elapsed."
In any case, the ruling admits that in each case it will be necessary to examine "whether that person has the right to have the information in question about him or her no longer linked to his or her name through the list of results obtained after carrying out a search based on his or her name."
"If this is the case, links to web pages containing such information must be removed from that list of results, unless there are particular reasons - such as the role played by that person in public life - which justify the public's interest in having access to that information when carrying out the search prevailing," the Court of Justice said.
The ruling also recognises the existence of a "right to be forgotten" on the Internet, i.e. the right of citizens to ask a search engine to delete links to irrelevant personal information, even if it is true and public, but sets out a series of conditions and limitations. The Court contradicts the opinion of the Advocate General, Niilo Jääskinen, who in June 2013 had ruled in favour of Google.
The dispute dates back to 2010, when the Spanish Data Protection Agency demanded that Google remove from its search results links to an advertisement published in a newspaper for a property auction related to a seizure due to debts to Social Security.
The Agency acted at the request of the citizen mentioned in that advertisement, who claimed that the embargo he was subject to at the time had been fully resolved and resolved years ago and was no longer relevant today, so he did not want it to appear when his name was searched on Google.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the Court of Justice concluded that "the operator of an Internet search engine is responsible for the processing of personal data appearing on web pages published by third parties" and must therefore comply with the EU directive on data protection.
In response to the question whether the austria email address directive allows the data subject to request that links to web pages be removed from the list of results because he or she wishes the information about him or her contained on those pages to be "forgotten" after a certain period of time, the Court of Justice states that "if, following the request of the data subject, it is established that the inclusion of those links in the list is currently incompatible with the directive, the information and the links contained in the list must be removed."
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The judgment states that "even initially lawful processing of accurate data may eventually become incompatible with the directive when, taking into account all the circumstances of each case, the data prove to be inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed and the time elapsed."
In any case, the ruling admits that in each case it will be necessary to examine "whether that person has the right to have the information in question about him or her no longer linked to his or her name through the list of results obtained after carrying out a search based on his or her name."
"If this is the case, links to web pages containing such information must be removed from that list of results, unless there are particular reasons - such as the role played by that person in public life - which justify the public's interest in having access to that information when carrying out the search prevailing," the Court of Justice said.