Google and other prolific search engines are \u201cdistorting\u201d and undermining the European High Court\u2019s recent \u2018Right to be Forgotten\u2019 ruling, the European Commission\u2019s (EC) most senior justice official has warned.<\/p>\n
The EU Justice Commissioner, Martine Reicherts, has accused the tech giant and other internet search engines of effectively undermining planned data protection reforms.<\/p>\n
The controversial ruling, which allows individuals to request search engines remove links to web pages about them online, has been endorsed by multiple privacy groups around the world. But certain search engines and groups advocating freedom of speech, oppose the legislation.<\/p>\n
In an official address in Lyon last week, Reicherts confirmed she will not preside over search engines\u2019 abuse of this\u00a0\u201ccrucial ruling\u201d<\/em>\u00a0to deter the EC from cultivating a\u00a0\u201cdigital single market\u201d<\/em>\u00a0for companies. Equally, she will not allow the contravention of this ruling in violation of citizens\u2019 rights, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cSearch engines such as Google and other affected companies complain loudly,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she emphasized.\u00a0\u201cBut they should remember this: Handling citizens\u2019 personal data brings huge economic benefits to them. It also brings responsibility. These are two sides of the same coin, you cannot have one without the other.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The \u2018right to be forgotten ruling\u2019 forms part of a broader array of data protection reforms the EC has been brokering with EU states for the past three years. The British government is strongly opposed to a number of these policy prescriptions.<\/p>\n Many critics contend the EC ruling and its varying implications culminate in and encourage an assault on freedom of expression for individuals and journalists. In response to these claims, Reicherts stresses\u201cwe must not get confused by all the noise. A sober analysis of the ruling shows that it does, in fact, not elevate the right to be forgotten to a \u2018super right\u2019 trumping other fundamental rights, such as the freedom of expression.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThose who try to use distorted notions of the right to be forgotten to discredit the reform proposals are playing false,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she said.\u00a0But the Justice Commissioner has warned people not to be tricked by the naysayers.<\/p>\n Rather, European citizens \u2014 in all their guises \u2014 must work collectively to ensure the regulations are adopted promptly because they will \u201crevive economic growth and job creation,\u201d she says. This ruling is vital to ensuring the rights of EU citizens are protected and preserved, she stresses.<\/p>\n Google retains the power to reject data removal applications in cases where the public interest is deemed to trump individuals\u2019 right to privacy. Critics have argued this power, however, is more appropriate for a state body than a mammoth commercial firm.<\/p>\n \u201cHere state power is being exercised without the involvement of the state: Google decides how to handle redaction requests,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Johnathan Zittrain, a professor of law and computer science at Harvard University recently wrote in the Financial Times.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a search engine declines to alter its results, the claimant might appeal to a national data protection authority. Under the court\u2019s decision, the public\u2019s right to know is to be balanced against a claimant\u2019s right to privacy \u2014 but there is no easy way for the public to remonstrate against poor balancing,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he warned.<\/p>\n In a mark of protest against online censorship, a new site \u2018Hidden From Google\u2019 has begun archiving links censored by search engines intent on complying with the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) demands. The site was set up by US web developer and transparency advocate, Afaq Tariq.<\/p>\n RT questioned a Google spokesperson on Thursday regarding Reichert\u2019s allegations that the firm is distorting the EC ruling. The spokesperson, however, declined to comment.<\/p>\n This piece<\/a> was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Google and other prolific search engines are \u201cdistorting\u201d and undermining the European High Court\u2019s recent \u2018Right to be Forgotten\u2019 ruling, the European Commission\u2019s (EC) most senior justice official has warned. The EU Justice Commissioner, Martine Reicherts, has accused the tech giant and other internet search engines of effectively undermining planned data protection reforms. The controversial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,1614,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-137932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-surveillance-big-brother","9":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}