Marc Rotenberg of EPIC writes:
There is a lot of confusion in the United States about last year’s privacy decision in Europe. The European court said Google, a commercial search provider that gathers personal information, should remove links to private information when asked, provided the information is no longer relevant. The court did not say newspapers should remove articles. Google is resisting the court’s judgment. It does not want to apply the ruling outside of Europe.
Google’s position does not make sense. Well before the decision in Europe, Google would take down links to stolen credit card numbers and bank account records. And, of course, if a person in the United States asked Google to remove the link, Google would do so for all Internet domains, not just those in the U.S.
That’s why it is obvious that if a person in Europe has a similar right to have personal information removed, it cannot only be for European domains but must also be for all of them.
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