Roz Sheldon, Head of Client Services and Managing Partner at Igniyte talks to the Washington Internet Daily about the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Ruling on the Right to be Forgotten (RTBF).
Google’s Right To Be Forgotten is the concept that people have the civil right to request that personal information, videos or images removed from the Internet so that they cannot be found by search engines, and no longer appear in search results for your name.
The recent ECJ ruling states that the RTBF does not have to apply the right to be forgotten globally and only applies in the EU. It means that Google only has to remove links from its search results in Europe – rather than globally – after receiving an appropriate request.
The ruling stems from a dispute between Google and a French privacy regulator. In 2015, CNIL ordered the firm to globally remove search result listings to pages containing damaging or false information about a person.
The following year, Google introduced a geoblocking feature that prevents European users from being able to see delisted links. But it resisted censoring search results for people in other parts of the world. And the firm challenged a 100,000 ($109,901; £88,376) euro fine that CNIL had tried to impose.
Roz Sheldon is quoted as saying “Many businesses are global and those doing employee checks will be able to see differing regional versions for individuals. Many minor offenses or negative stories reported in news articles can rank highly in Google search results and are often opinion-based. They can remain visible in search results for 10-20 years, potentially harming someone’s reputation long-term, and the ability to find a job outside the EU.”
You can read the full article here.
An experienced digital PR, marketing and social media marketing strategist, Claire leads PR strategy and delivery at Igniyte across multiple countries and sectors.
With 16 years’ experience in marketing, communications and PR, she seamlessly directs all elements of B2B and B2C online PR to gain high-ranking positive coverage for our clients in regional, national, international and specialist online media – and she helps ensure that any risks are managed and mitigated.