The Right to Be Forgotten in the European Union

Abstract

The problem of the widespread availability of privacy-damaging information is not new. It has been dealt with since long before the internet era, sometimes under the label of droit à l’oubli, particularly in connection to mass media publications. Nonetheless, the issue has grown to an unprecedent level after the irruption of the web, the digitization of press archives, and the easiness to find information thanks to search engines. The right to protection of personal data, enshrined as an autonomous right by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, has been seen as a particularly fitting tool to regain control over the dissemination of personal information on the internet.

This chapter will briefly consider two manifestations of the right to be forgotten as they are being currently applied in the EU. First, the right to be forgotten vis-à-vis internet search engines, i.e., the right to be delisted from search results. Second, the right-to-be-forgotten claims directed against primary publishers to have the information deleted or anonymized at the source.

Keywords: Right to be forgotten, Data Protection, Search Engines, Fundamental Rights, Media Publishers