The European Court of Justice recently ruled people have the right to ask Internet search engines to remove “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant” information about them, however, this only removes the information from the European versions of the site.
This is a problem because Google is creating inconsistency in the way this ruling is being applied despite what European regulators and judges are asking. There are two choices to be made here: Either anyone can remove certain information from every version of a search engine, or all information must remain permanently online.
Growing up in Generation Y or Z, kids are taught anything is permanent once it hits the Internet. Although this is used as a scare tactic for kids, it is somewhat true. One can delete information from Facebook, but if someone got ahold of it before it was taken down, it can be reposted at the grabber’s discretion. The textbook describes surveillance as a major issue in a democratic society and suggests more education should be in place on what should and shouldn’t end up on the Internet. This is agreeable. Granted sometimes people post pictures or videos of another person on social media without that individual’s permission, one should take caution and post only what he or she believes to be safe for everyone.
The Internet is permanent. People shouldn’t be able to remove anything from it, no matter how irrelevant. In theory, this is a great idea, however, how long will it take before important politicians or other celebrities try to get search engine results removed because the posts “ruin” their reputations? These powerful people could find any reason to claim a post as “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant” and demand it be taken down. Where does one draw the line?
References
Christians, C., Fackler, M., Richardson, K., Kreshel, P., & Woods, R. (2012). Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
The Editorial Board. (2015, February 4). Europe’s Expanding ‘Right to be Forgotten’ Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/opinion/europes-expanding-right-to-be-forgotten.html
MATTHEW E. COHLMIA II 