EU: Roundup: What Today’s “Right to Be Forgotten” Judgment in Europe Means

Bottom line. A lot (most) details are still pending.
1. Q&A About Decision from the Wall St. Journal
2. Summary of Today’s Decision (via Court of Justice of the European Union)
3 pages; PDF.
3. Full Text of Today’s Decision (via Court of Justice of the European Union)
Additional materials.

Selected Coverage

Google Must Honor Requests to Delete Some Links, E.U. Court Says

[Our emphasis] The ruling would apply only to Europe and probably have no effect for users of Google or other digital media services in the United States, where freedom of speech in many cases overrides privacy considerations, assuming the information is accurate. But Europe tends to strike more of a balance between speech and privacy rights.
Al Verney, a spokesman for Google, said in a statement that the decision was “a disappointing ruling for search engines and online publishers in general,” and that the company would “take time” to analyze the implications. Google was “very surprised” that the judgment “differs so dramatically” from a preliminary ruling by the court last year that mostly went in the company’s favor, he said.

EU Court’s Google Case Pits Privacy Rights Against Publication (via Bloomberg)

The case should mark “a turning point for Google’s behavior,” said Jose Luis Rodriguez Alvarez, the head of Spain’s Data Protection Agency, in an e-mailed statement. Google has “consistently challenged” the Spanish authority which has had to deal with an increasing number of complaints over the company’s refusal to remove personal information, the agency said.

EU court ruling on Google links could encourage paywalls (IDG News)

“This will have commercial consequences, by making newspaper and other media archive paywalls more economically attractive,” said Simon McGarr, lead solicitor at McGarr Solicitors in Ireland. “If a researcher can’t be sure that a Google index will return all the relevant returns on an individual, the value of reliable private archives is bound to increase. It makes economic sense as researchers looking for reliable information are frequently those who are most willing to pay.”

EU court backs ‘right to be forgotten’ in Google case (via BBC)

The EU Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, welcomed the court’s decision in a post on Facebook, saying it was a “clear victory for the protection of personal data of Europeans”.
“The ruling confirms the need to bring today’s data protection rules from the “digital stone age” into today’s modern computing world,” she said.
The European Commission proposed a law giving users the “right to be forgotten” in 2012

Top Europe court rules individuals can control search results for their own names (via Jurist/Paper Chase)
Roundup of Coverage from U.S. and World Sources (via EMM)
UPDATE May 15, 2014 New York Times Op/Ed: 
ottom line. A lot (most) details are still pending.
1. Q&A About Decision from the Wall St. Journal
2. Summary of Today’s Decision (via Court of Justice of the European Union)
3 pages; PDF.
3. Full Text of Today’s Decision (via Court of Justice of the European Union)
Additional materials.

Selected Coverage

Google Must Honor Requests to Delete Some Links, E.U. Court Says

[Our emphasis] The ruling would apply only to Europe and probably have no effect for users of Google or other digital media services in the United States, where freedom of speech in many cases overrides privacy considerations, assuming the information is accurate. But Europe tends to strike more of a balance between speech and privacy rights.
Al Verney, a spokesman for Google, said in a statement that the decision was “a disappointing ruling for search engines and online publishers in general,” and that the company would “take time” to analyze the implications. Google was “very surprised” that the judgment “differs so dramatically” from a preliminary ruling by the court last year that mostly went in the company’s favor, he said.

EU Court’s Google Case Pits Privacy Rights Against Publication (via Bloomberg)

The case should mark “a turning point for Google’s behavior,” said Jose Luis Rodriguez Alvarez, the head of Spain’s Data Protection Agency, in an e-mailed statement. Google has “consistently challenged” the Spanish authority which has had to deal with an increasing number of complaints over the company’s refusal to remove personal information, the agency said.

EU court ruling on Google links could encourage paywalls (IDG News)

“This will have commercial consequences, by making newspaper and other media archive paywalls more economically attractive,” said Simon McGarr, lead solicitor at McGarr Solicitors in Ireland. “If a researcher can’t be sure that a Google index will return all the relevant returns on an individual, the value of reliable private archives is bound to increase. It makes economic sense as researchers looking for reliable information are frequently those who are most willing to pay.”

EU court backs ‘right to be forgotten’ in Google case (via BBC)

The EU Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, welcomed the court’s decision in a post on Facebook, saying it was a “clear victory for the protection of personal data of Europeans”.
“The ruling confirms the need to bring today’s data protection rules from the “digital stone age” into today’s modern computing world,” she said.
The European Commission proposed a law giving users the “right to be forgotten” in 2012

Top Europe court rules individuals can control search results for their own names (via Jurist/Paper Chase)
Roundup of Coverage from U.S. and World Sources (via EMM)
UPDATE May 15, 2014 Don’t Force Google to ‘Forget’ (Op/Ed, NY Times by Jonathan Zittrain, Berkman Center, Harvard University)
UPDATE May 15, 2014  Eric Schmidt: ECJ struck wrong balance over right to be forgotten (via The Telegraph)

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