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| ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Should Apply Worldwide, E.U. Panel Says | ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Should Apply Worldwide, E.U. Panel Says |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| LONDON — Europe is taking aim at Google, again. | LONDON — Europe is taking aim at Google, again. |
| Privacy watchdogs in the European Union issued guidelines on Wednesday calling on the company to apply the recent “right to be forgotten” ruling to Google’s entire search empire. | Privacy watchdogs in the European Union issued guidelines on Wednesday calling on the company to apply the recent “right to be forgotten” ruling to Google’s entire search empire. |
| Right now, the right to be forgotten ruling – which created a process for people to remove links to unwanted content from Google’s search results – applies only to Google’s local European sites from Google, like Google.de in Germany and other search engines. But the law is easy to get around, because to get the full list of search results all anyone has to do is perform a search on Google’s other sites, like Google.com. | Right now, the right to be forgotten ruling – which created a process for people to remove links to unwanted content from Google’s search results – applies only to Google’s local European sites from Google, like Google.de in Germany and other search engines. But the law is easy to get around, because to get the full list of search results all anyone has to do is perform a search on Google’s other sites, like Google.com. |
| The new guidelines, issued by a European body composed of the region’s 28 national privacy regulators, aim to firm the law up by requiring Google and other search engines to take down links on sites outside the region as well. | The new guidelines, issued by a European body composed of the region’s 28 national privacy regulators, aim to firm the law up by requiring Google and other search engines to take down links on sites outside the region as well. |
| “Under E.U. law, everyone has a right to data protection,” the regulatory body said in a statement on Wednesday. “Decisions must be implemented in such a way that they guarantee the effective and complete protection of data subjects’ rights and that E.U. law cannot be circumvented.” | “Under E.U. law, everyone has a right to data protection,” the regulatory body said in a statement on Wednesday. “Decisions must be implemented in such a way that they guarantee the effective and complete protection of data subjects’ rights and that E.U. law cannot be circumvented.” |
| On Wednesday, a Google spokesman said that the company had yet to review Europe’s new privacy guidelines — they will not be officially published until Friday — but that the company would study them carefully when they were published. | On Wednesday, a Google spokesman said that the company had yet to review Europe’s new privacy guidelines — they will not be officially published until Friday — but that the company would study them carefully when they were published. |
| For now, the decision to expand the scope of the “right to be forgotten” is mostly just for show. The guidelines are not binding, and it will be up to E.U. member countries to deicide how to apply them — or if they want to apply them at all. | For now, the decision to expand the scope of the “right to be forgotten” is mostly just for show. The guidelines are not binding, and it will be up to E.U. member countries to deicide how to apply them — or if they want to apply them at all. |
| On top of that, regulators did not clarify whether the guidelines would apply only to requests made by residents of the European Union, or if people in other countries could use the E.U. ruling to make requests for links to be removed. | On top of that, regulators did not clarify whether the guidelines would apply only to requests made by residents of the European Union, or if people in other countries could use the E.U. ruling to make requests for links to be removed. |
| And even if they did, it is not clear how the ruling would be enforced beyond the 28-member European Union, and whether American tech companies would even have to comply. | And even if they did, it is not clear how the ruling would be enforced beyond the 28-member European Union, and whether American tech companies would even have to comply. |
| “This is a line that U.S. companies will be very reluctant to cross,” said Ian Brown, a professor of information security and privacy at the University of Oxford, in discussing the potential global use of Europe’s privacy ruling. “It will come down to who blinks first. The companies or the privacy regulators.” | “This is a line that U.S. companies will be very reluctant to cross,” said Ian Brown, a professor of information security and privacy at the University of Oxford, in discussing the potential global use of Europe’s privacy ruling. “It will come down to who blinks first. The companies or the privacy regulators.” |
| Regulators acknowledged as much on Wednesday, saying they would initially concentrate on “right to be forgotten” cases that have clear links to the region’s residents. | |
| Regulators “will focus on claims where there is a clear link between the data subject and the E.U., for instance where the data subject is a citizen or resident of an E.U. member state,” the European privacy body said. | |
| Despite these difficulties, the decision to expand the scope of the “right to be forgotten” decision to potentially all search results is a blow to Google’s efforts to contain its European problems. | Despite these difficulties, the decision to expand the scope of the “right to be forgotten” decision to potentially all search results is a blow to Google’s efforts to contain its European problems. |
| The company is already the target of an extensive European antitrust investigation into its search business in the region and will face a resolution in the European Parliament on Thursday that is expected to call for the company’s breakup. | |
| The tech company has also faced a series of global privacy challenges this year aimed at forcing it to comply with data protection rulings across all of its search operations. | The tech company has also faced a series of global privacy challenges this year aimed at forcing it to comply with data protection rulings across all of its search operations. |
| This year, for example, a court in British Columbia ordered Google to remove specific results from its worldwide domains related to an intellectual property dispute in Canada. Google is appealing the decision. | |
| And a French court said in September that Google must remove defamatory articles from its global search results about a local lawyer in a case based on the recent “right to be forgotten” decision. | And a French court said in September that Google must remove defamatory articles from its global search results about a local lawyer in a case based on the recent “right to be forgotten” decision. |
| The “right to be forgotten” ruling has become a major sticking point between privacy advocates, who believe individuals have the right to ask that links be removed, and campaigners for freedom of expression, who have stressed that the legal decision unjustly limits what can be published online. | The “right to be forgotten” ruling has become a major sticking point between privacy advocates, who believe individuals have the right to ask that links be removed, and campaigners for freedom of expression, who have stressed that the legal decision unjustly limits what can be published online. |
| Since the ruling in May, Google — which holds close to 85 percent of Europe’s online search market — has received roughly 175,000 requests, from people in Europe and outside the region, to remove links to online material, according to the company’s transparency report. | Since the ruling in May, Google — which holds close to 85 percent of Europe’s online search market — has received roughly 175,000 requests, from people in Europe and outside the region, to remove links to online material, according to the company’s transparency report. |
| As part of the privacy decision, individuals — whether based in Europe or outside the region — must submit requests to search engines with links to the content that they want removed. Submissions must show that the online information is either out of date or no longer relevant, and that there is not a public interest to keep links to the content. | As part of the privacy decision, individuals — whether based in Europe or outside the region — must submit requests to search engines with links to the content that they want removed. Submissions must show that the online information is either out of date or no longer relevant, and that there is not a public interest to keep links to the content. |
| Google has agreed so far to about 42 percent of the requests, according to the company’s own records. And if people are not satisfied with a search company’s initial decision, they can refer their submissions to national data regulators, which will make a final ruling. | Google has agreed so far to about 42 percent of the requests, according to the company’s own records. And if people are not satisfied with a search company’s initial decision, they can refer their submissions to national data regulators, which will make a final ruling. |
| “The amount of submissions shows that this legal ruling is a success story for Europe’s privacy regulators,” said Richard Cumbley, a privacy lawyer at Linklaters in London. “Right to be forgotten doesn’t show signs of being forgotten anytime soon." |