Since it started being used in various countries (mostly in Europe), many people have chosen the right to be forgotten – in other words, getting their past completely erased from the search engine. In fact, this is why the concept was created in the first place: to give people the right to start from anew, without being stigmatized by any action taken in the past that might hinder them in mundane things like finding a job or applying for credit.
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.
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.
There have been some quite known cases over the past few years thanks to the right to be forgotten. Perhaps the best-known one, which still hasn’t ended, is Google vs France in which Google filed a claim with France’s highest court to stop being forced to censor its search results worldwide. Another well-known and heavily publicized example is the Costeja case in Spain, where in May 2014 the European Court of Justice ruled against Google. In said case, Mario Costeja requested the company to remove a link to a digitized 1998 newspaper article which referred to an auction for his foreclosed home, something that prevented him from applying for credit, despite having been able to pay his debts since. At first, Google disputed the claim, but eventually it ended up complying with the European data privacy law and the disputed link was removed.
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.
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.
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