Almost four years ago, in a ruling against Google, the European Union Court of Justice ruled that individuals should have the ability to request the deletion of irrelevant and out-of-date information. The case was brought about after a Spanish man lodged a complaint about an auction notice concerning his repossessed residence which he claimed infringed his privacy. Unsurprisingly, Google was disappointed with the decision and soon advised that it needed more time to "forget" people.
Now, in another legal challenge, Google has once again come off second best after it failed in its bid to stop a businessman seeking to invoke his "right to be forgotten". In this instance, the individual, who remains unnamed in compliance with the case's reporting restrictions, wished to have entries in the search engine removed regarding a crime, of which he was convicted and served time in prison, committed over ten years ago. The search giant had initially refused the businessman's request and was subsequently brought to court over the matter.
The company said that it would accept the decision and went on to say that:
"We work hard to comply with the right to be forgotten, but we take great care not to remove search results that are in the public interest. We are pleased that the Court recognised our efforts in this area, and we will respect the judgements they have made in this case."
A separate case from another businessman, found guilty of a more serious offense, had also made its way to the UK High Court but was ultimately rejected.
Source: BBC News
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