has to be more than 200 words Has Google gone far enough to protect this right from being deprived?

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (7th Edition)
7th Edition
ISBN:9780133594140
Author:James Kurose, Keith Ross
Publisher:James Kurose, Keith Ross
Chapter1: Computer Networks And The Internet
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem R1RQ: What is the difference between a host and an end system? List several different types of end...
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has to be more than 200 words

Has Google gone far enough to protect this right from being deprived?

Privacy and the Right to Be Forgotten
Henri was a well-known shopkeeper and café owner in a small town on the outskirts of Paris. He was
thrust into a vortex of controversy in the summer of 2007 when he was falsely accused of sexual
harassment by a disgruntled clerk under his employment. Henri was completely exonerated, but links
to old, damaging articles in the local newspaper remained accessible through Google. That newspaper
was particularly aggressive in its initial coverage of the events and did not give Henri the benefit of the
doubt despite his protestations of innocence. Years later, people still brought up the incident to him or
his family, often with an accusatory tone. Henri wanted this portion of his past, full of these false
allegations and innuendos, to be expunged. Since most people came across this reporting through their
search of Google.fr, he had asked Google for its help in suppressing the links to these old stories. Google
was not interested in responding to his repeated requests for its assistance in removing these links.
There are two attributes of Internet data that cause problems for victims like Henri: Internet data is
both permanent and easily accessible. Web pages are rarely deleted, and sometimes those that are
deleted are nevertheless preserved by caching services like Google Cache and the Internet Archive. At
the same time, search engines like Google and Bing make all of that data exceptionally easy to access.
It seemed that people like Henri would never be able to control incriminating information about their
past circulating on the Internet. However, in 2014 the European Union Court of Justice issued a
surprising court order against Google. It demanded that the search engine company remove hyperlinks
that connect search engine users to content that is "no longer necessary," or "inadequate, irrelevant,
or no longer relevant." Exceptions are warranted if there is some "preponderance of public interest"
at stake. Thus, if someone like Henri asks Google to remove these links to "irrelevant" and outdated
material, the search engine company must oblige this request. The European Court's decision was
based on the "right to be forgotten," which was cited as a basic aspect of a person's overall privacy
rights. The legal authority of this right to be forgotten is found in the Data Protection Directive adopted
by the European Parliament in 1995.
The Directive established a comprehensive privacy framework in the European Union, requiring that
data "controllers" respect the privacy rights of all "data subjects." Advocates of this right claim that
individuals should be able to insist on the removal of old, irrelevant material that infringes on their
basic privacy rights. Skeptics of this new legal development, on the other hand, expressed their unease
about the burdens placed on search engine companies like Google. There was also concern that the
deletion of these links for private interests could lead to "counterfeit histories." What about the
public's right to know this information that is now filtered out thanks to an individual's complaints
about irrelevancy?
The EU's decision establishes a new but more precarious boundary between privacy and free speech
that clearly favors privacy. The decision is in keeping with Europe's tradition of giving equal weight to privacy and free speech rights. In the United States, however, priority is generally given to free speech
rights, and so it is probably unlikely that a version of the "right to be forgotten" will be codified in U.S.
law.
Google agreed to comply with the European Court's ruling but acknowledged the difficulties with
implementation. Within a few months after the ruling, Google had received over 100,000 requests for
the removal of links to "irrelevant or "unnecessary information." The EU's order, however, applied only
to European domains such as Google.fr or Google.co.uk-not to Google.com itself. Some privacy rights
advocates claim that this doesn't go far enough and that the ruling should apply globally in order to
fully protect the data rights of European citizens. There are other questions about how extensively to
apply European privacy rules, such as whether or not publishers should be allowed to appeal Google's
decision to remove links to their content.
Transcribed Image Text:Privacy and the Right to Be Forgotten Henri was a well-known shopkeeper and café owner in a small town on the outskirts of Paris. He was thrust into a vortex of controversy in the summer of 2007 when he was falsely accused of sexual harassment by a disgruntled clerk under his employment. Henri was completely exonerated, but links to old, damaging articles in the local newspaper remained accessible through Google. That newspaper was particularly aggressive in its initial coverage of the events and did not give Henri the benefit of the doubt despite his protestations of innocence. Years later, people still brought up the incident to him or his family, often with an accusatory tone. Henri wanted this portion of his past, full of these false allegations and innuendos, to be expunged. Since most people came across this reporting through their search of Google.fr, he had asked Google for its help in suppressing the links to these old stories. Google was not interested in responding to his repeated requests for its assistance in removing these links. There are two attributes of Internet data that cause problems for victims like Henri: Internet data is both permanent and easily accessible. Web pages are rarely deleted, and sometimes those that are deleted are nevertheless preserved by caching services like Google Cache and the Internet Archive. At the same time, search engines like Google and Bing make all of that data exceptionally easy to access. It seemed that people like Henri would never be able to control incriminating information about their past circulating on the Internet. However, in 2014 the European Union Court of Justice issued a surprising court order against Google. It demanded that the search engine company remove hyperlinks that connect search engine users to content that is "no longer necessary," or "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant." Exceptions are warranted if there is some "preponderance of public interest" at stake. Thus, if someone like Henri asks Google to remove these links to "irrelevant" and outdated material, the search engine company must oblige this request. The European Court's decision was based on the "right to be forgotten," which was cited as a basic aspect of a person's overall privacy rights. The legal authority of this right to be forgotten is found in the Data Protection Directive adopted by the European Parliament in 1995. The Directive established a comprehensive privacy framework in the European Union, requiring that data "controllers" respect the privacy rights of all "data subjects." Advocates of this right claim that individuals should be able to insist on the removal of old, irrelevant material that infringes on their basic privacy rights. Skeptics of this new legal development, on the other hand, expressed their unease about the burdens placed on search engine companies like Google. There was also concern that the deletion of these links for private interests could lead to "counterfeit histories." What about the public's right to know this information that is now filtered out thanks to an individual's complaints about irrelevancy? The EU's decision establishes a new but more precarious boundary between privacy and free speech that clearly favors privacy. The decision is in keeping with Europe's tradition of giving equal weight to privacy and free speech rights. In the United States, however, priority is generally given to free speech rights, and so it is probably unlikely that a version of the "right to be forgotten" will be codified in U.S. law. Google agreed to comply with the European Court's ruling but acknowledged the difficulties with implementation. Within a few months after the ruling, Google had received over 100,000 requests for the removal of links to "irrelevant or "unnecessary information." The EU's order, however, applied only to European domains such as Google.fr or Google.co.uk-not to Google.com itself. Some privacy rights advocates claim that this doesn't go far enough and that the ruling should apply globally in order to fully protect the data rights of European citizens. There are other questions about how extensively to apply European privacy rules, such as whether or not publishers should be allowed to appeal Google's decision to remove links to their content.
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