Google has launched 'Right to be Forgotten'

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Google has launched 'Right to be Forgotten' guys!! What do you think of that one now???

Google launches 'right to be forgotten' webform for removal requests | Technology | theguardian.com
#forgotten #google #launched #removal request #right to be forgotten
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    Nothing for the United States. Guess they are waiting to be forced here as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cruzalyce
      Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

      Nothing for the United States. Guess they are waiting to be forced here as well.
      I guess, they are..... But I am doubtful about how USED or MISUSED this function can be!!!! :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
    It's going to be a touch one for Google.

    One fellow had approached the major local newspaper with a sob story. He'd committed property crimes 10 years prior, but wanted Google to remove links to the news and other discussion because he had "changed his life". The rag did a bit of background checking. Lo and behold, the guy still had criminal charges and trial pending.

    Obviously this is not a major case where the search results are important for society, but these cases are even harder for Google to handle. Is it more important to respect his privacy or give his potential new victims a way to get information on him?
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by nettiapina View Post

      . Is it more important to respect his privacy or give his potential new victims a way to get information on him?
      Probably his privacy. Why? Not because of his privacy but the fact that its too easy to make up things about people online
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      • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        Probably his privacy. Why? Not because of his privacy but the fact that its too easy to make up things about people online
        That's true. Google's track record with removing blatantly obvious slander from convicted felons (from their Blogger service) isn't stellar. Well, not outside US anyway...

        The hard part is identifying the individual that's making the claim and featured in the site. While the data is usually available it's expensive to access and investigate. If I was Google I probably would not even try, but take some sort of blanket approach to the whole matter.

        I know a guy who had about the least distinctive name that you could have in Finland, and he had several minor celebrities as namesakes. (Took wife's name when he got married.) I'm sure one of those 3-4 celebrities was involved in something that was in the news, and probably some of his non-famous internet doppelgangers are involved in crime. Could my friend have the content removed from Google? It's his name, after all... Takes quite a bit of local knowledge to even distinguish the celebrities from each other.
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        Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
        Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

        What's your excuse?
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        • Profile picture of the author Linkable
          This will blow over once the press stop pushing it and then the volume of requests Google receives will fall, rather substantially.

          Long term, I doubt this is gonna be that big-a-deal.
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  • Profile picture of the author patadeperro
    It seems to be just available to European countries
    here is the form https://support.google.com/legal/con...ebsearch&hl=en

    My question is, will they just remove the urls you send them or will they remove the information and links related ? example: there can be a piece of news about somebody that suspected to commit a crime and there can be versions of the news in different languages, is this language based? geografically based? how will this work?
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Google was forced to do this by law. However, the law also states that when they get a request, they have the option to turn it back over to the local court to make a ruling. I would imagine that is what Google will do in 99.9% of the cases. That way it really stays out of their hands and they do not have to make any potentially controversial decisions.
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    • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      However, the law also states that when they get a request, they have the option to turn it back over to the local court to make a ruling.
      That's probably a route Google could take but it's not an easy or inexpensive option either. Not that filing itself is that expensive, but you may need lawyers with local knowledge to push the cases to the system and interpret the outcome. Legislation is more diverse than in the States, and every country has their own processes and authorities.
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      Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author cbpayne
    There is a pretty good analysis of the potential details of how this works here:
    How Google's New "Right To Be Forgotten" Form Works: An Explainer
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