However, sometimes these past actions are so serious or downright unforgiveable that they stay with you forever, no matter how hard you want those actions to be forgotten. That’s what happened to a Japanese man charged with pedophilia, whose appeal to be removed from Google search results was rejected by the Japanese Supreme Court.
When you can’t erase your past
This judgement is the first of its kind rendered by Japan’s highest court, which, interestingly, entered into effect one year after a district court of that same country decided in favor of the same person.
During the original and the current trial, the unnamed man, who was fined $4,400 in yens back then, demanded Google to remove certain search results, since every time someone searched for his name and address, the first results were online reports detailing his arrest and how he was charged with child prostitution and breaking pornography laws. In Japan, child prostitution is not only prohibited, but strongly condemned by society too, which makes the man’s life a living hell. However, the supreme court ruled that the public’s right to know outweighs the man’s right to privacy due to the severity of his crimes, therefore rejected the appeal, much to the content of Google.
As of May 2014, Google removed around 1,390,838 URLs from the web, an already impressive number which would have flown under the radar hadn’t it been leaked to the public one year later, in July 2015. The leaked statistics contained other surprises as well. One might expect that only criminals, politicians or public figures are trying to hide their crimes or shameful post-party pictures with the right to be forgotten. However, according to the Google report, 95% of privacy requests were filed by normal citizens who just want to protect their personal and private information.
Remaining anonymous
The right to be forgotten is great and all, but once you file a claim against Google to get any content removed, you might want to prepare yourself for a long wait. To avoid waiting ages for a court ruling, you have to be careful with what information you submit online. Remember the golden rule: although there are some tools that may help, the internet never forgets; therefore, you must take privacy protection very seriously. One of your best shots to never having to fear being exposed is investing in a VPN. This neat little software encrypts all your online data, scrambles your virtual location and, most importantly, it prevents anyone from following your digital footprints.
Leo S.
Sander D.
User feedback