Over 100,000 individuals have asked for links about them in search engine results to be removed, as search engines have become inundated with requests, following a landmark European Court of Justice ruling against Google Spain in May. Aside from criticism of the stifling effect on free speech, this has led to an unexpected surge in administrative work for search engines.
In a report covering the issue by The Daily Telegraph which was highlighted in a newspaper review by BBC News, a couple of examples which would shock many people have been revealed. In one, a student banned from driving for a year – after a drink-driving incident which involved a police helicopter, six security guards and two police patrol cars – managed to have details of the incident removed from search results because of the effects on his privacy. Another successful take-down involved an incident in which someone “terrorised” a shopkeeper and his wife while stealing beer, damaging a security camera and leaving the shopkeeper needing stitches.
Paul Gershlick, a Partner at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP, commented to the newspaper: “The judgment itself leaves a lot of unanswered questions, such as how long you have to go back before something is deemed out of date. Public figures are deemed to be fair game to keep stories up there due to the public interest, but where is the dividing line between a public and private figure? The law is definitely not certain any more, and it could stifle free speech.”
The online version of the article can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/11038155/Google-removes-more-links-under-right-to-be-forgotten.html.