Right to be Forgotten

RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN

INTRODUCTION

In a world where social media platforms are not restricted to the government records of individuals, everyone has the ability to access the information that is posted online. The prevalence of personal data on these platforms makes it clear that an individual is in a world of Big Data.

The Right to be Forgotten is the concept that individuals have the civil right to request that personal information be removed from the Internet.

It is a type of data protection rule whereby a person’s footprint in any media record (generally on the internet) can be erased in order to give him relief from unwanted publicity. An individual under the Right to be Forgotten will have the right to request the server (including intermediaries) removal any information regarding their personal life, for the time they consider, to have become inaccurate, inadequate, or irrelevant.

But this right is not absolute unlike fundamental rights have some restrictions, such as it is subjected to restrictions like it should not interfere with the right to information (an inherent part of freedom of speech and expression) or these restrictions have a very broad base which makes this right very vague and is probably the reason why it is not enforced by most of the countries. However, there is some scope that it will develop over time as was suggested by the European Government's highest court of justice

BACKGROUND

The Right to be Forgotten was introduced in the European Union by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a law passed by the 28-member alliance in 2018. In January 2012, the European Commission set out plans for data protection reform across the European Union in order to make Europe fit for the digital age. Almost four years later, an agreement was reached on what that involved and how it would be enforced.

What is GDPR?

GDPR is a new set of rules designed to give EU citizens more control over their personal data. It aims to simplify the regulatory environment for businesses so both citizens and businesses in the European Union can fully benefit from the digital economy.

In 2014, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in favor of Mario Costeja González, a Spaniard who was unhappy that a 1998 newspaper story had resulted in a Google search for his name He approached the newspaper in 2009 to get the article removed as he felt it was no longer relevant. The newspaper felt it was inappropriate to remove the article, and Gonzalez then approached Google to not show up the article when his name was searched.

The ECJ asked Google to remove irrelevant or inappropriate data from its search results when someone requests it. This ruling became known as the Right to be Forgotten.

The Right to be Forgotten is found in the Data Protection Act of 1973 and Recitals 65 and 66 and article-17the General Data Protection Regulation. Both of these regulations apply to all data controllers.

The Right to be Forgotten comes under the purview of an individual's Right to Privacy which is governed by the Personal Data Protection Bill which is yet to be passed by the Parliament.

In 2017, the Right to Privacy was declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in its landmark verdict. The court said at the time that, “the Right to Privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 as guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution”

Under the provisions of the Right to Privacy the Right to be Forgottennaturally exists. But there are substantial foundations to this right. Below are some circumstances where the Right to be Forgotten may nullify or become void.

Case 1: Government servants and public servants who chair important positions. Eg: Imagine if the President wants to be forgotten then it simply cannot be done as it is part of the public domain.

Case 2: Criminals: Those found guilty of breaking law and order.

But again it depends on a lot of factors and technicalities. But yes, if someone wants their name to be removed from court proceedings then his name may be replaced with an alias. One cannot expect their entire case to be omitted from public view, as it is required for future judgments, references, and studies.

Issues with India's scheme of 'Right to be Forgotten

The Right to be Forgotten gets in conflict with the Right to Information.

This can be depicted in the cases where a rape victim has a right that her past is forgotten and at the same time an offender does not have the right to insist that his punishment not be discussed in the media.

Whether the data online has to be retained (Right to Information) or erased (Right to be Forgotten) from the web, the decision has to be taken by the Data Protection Authority.

This may cause danger to press freedom, as a journalist has to wait for the decision of the adjudicating officer.

Thus, the freedom to criticize a public person for their public policies based on their past statements and activities will be in jeopardy.

Since administering, Google has received 867,145 solicitations to erase 3,388,761 URLs, and it has delisted the greater part of those URLs from its inquiry across destinations like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Conclusion

Although RTBF is an aspect of the Right to Privacy, it has become very important in the digital age. When information is available at a click, the need to protect personal data becomes even more important. Personal data such as those relating to matrimonial litigation have no relevance to the public. However, people face harassment and loss of reputation due to the lack of proper legislation recognizing this right. Therefore a law protecting this right is the need of the hour. Until then, the task is left to the judiciary, which has to tread carefully between two fundamental rights—RTBF and Freedom of Expression.

citations

amit. (2022). What is the Right to be forgotten? https://www.studyiq.com/articles/right-to-be-forgotten/.

Palmer, D. (2019). What is GDPR? Everything you need to know about the new general data protection regulations . https://www.zdnet.com/article/gdpr-an-executive-guide-to-what-you-need-to-know/.

Software, S. (2015). What Is The Right To Be Forgotten? https://scramsoft.com/article/what-is-the-right-to-be-forgotten/.