EU backs 'right to be forgotten'

The European Union Court of Justice said links to "irrelevant" and outdated data should be erased on request.The case was brought by a Spanish man who complained that an auction notice of his repossessed home on Google's search results infringed his privacy.Google said the ruling was "disappointing"."We now need to take time to analyse the implications," a spokesperson added.'Inadequate'The search engine says it does not control data, it only offers links to information freely available on the internet.It has previously said forcing it to remove data amounts to censorship.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.It would require search engines to edit some searches to make them compliant with the European directive on the protection of personal data.A right to be forgotten?1. In 2012, the European Commission published plans for a "right to be forgotten" law , allowing people to request for data about themselves to be deleted2. Online service providers would have to comply unless they had "legitimate" reason to do otherwise3. The plans are part of a wide-ranging overhaul of the commission's 1995 Data Protection Directive4. UK's Ministry of Justice is seeking British opt-out from any law - it claims that the law "raises unrealistic and unfair expectations"5. Some tech firms have expressed concern about the reach of the billline break In its judgement, the court in Luxembourg said people had the right to request information be removed if it appeared to be "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant".It comes after Mario Costeja Gonzalez complained that a search of his name in Google brought up newspaper articles from 16 years ago about a sale of property to recover money he owed.He said the matter had been resolved and should no longer be linked to him.The case is one of scores of similar cases in Spain whose complainants want Google to delete their personal information from their search results.(BBC)Bakudaily.az