A Google source is reputed to have told Reuters that the company is already receiving "right to be forgotten" requests from consumers after the European parliament ruled that people in member countries should "have the right to be forgotten."
The ruling enforced since Tuesday is reported to have seen Google being flooded with requests from people wishing to see personal data about themselves removed from the results of the world"s most popular search engine. Apparently, Google has received so many requests of this nature that they are unable to handle them all in a timely manner and are figuring out a new way of structuring responses to these requests.
Under the new EU legislation, anybody living in a EU member state can ask a website to remove any data they have on them that is shown in search results. If the company refuses, then the individual can turn to the courts and seek an order forcing the website to remove the data. If the website still refuses then they may be subject to fines from the EU. This legislation affects over 500 million citizens living across Europe.
If you live in the European Union, what are your views on this? Do you think that this EU legislation is good or bad? Perhaps you are one of the reported many who have already requested that Google remove search results linking to your data? Let us know in the comments below.