Want Google to forget you? 12,000 Europeans have asked the search engine to remove information about them under new privacy laws however, some claim that this takes away the freedom to know.
After a ruling by the European Court of Justice, Google opened up an online form that allowed people to ask for certain information to be removed from their search engine.
As soon as the form went up, Google reported receiving at least 20 entires per minute from 28 countries across Europe including Switzerland, Iceland and Norway.
While this new ruling is great for people who want to be forgotten, many are concerned that it is taking away the right for freedom of speech and freedom to know.
“The court’s ruling requires Google to make difficult judgments about an individual’s right to be forgotten and the public’s right to know,” a Google spokesman said.
The case all began after a Spanish man objected to the fact that when he searched his name in Google, articles came up revealing that he had his home repossessed. He wanted this information to be forgotten and removed from the public eye which promoted the European courts to make the ruling.
The ruling does point out however, that while the links and articles are not removed from Google, they are not removed from the internet entirely.
This poses an even greater issue for Google as now, users may prefer to use another search engine that has no restrictions when it comes to finding information.
Critics of the ruling claim that the new rule amounts to censorship and that it could contribute to the concealment of criminal information.
Advocates on the other hand, have stated that the links are not being removed from the internet, just from Google.
The critics have argued back saying, ‘then what’s the point?’