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Google Has Received Over 41,000 Requests To "Forget" Personal Information
itwbennett (1594911) writes 'In the three weeks since a key ruling by the European Court of Justice about the so-called right to be forgotten, Google has already received around 41,000 requests to delete links to personal information from its search results (within 24 hours of putting the form online, Google had reportedly received 12,000 deletion requests). It should be noted, though, that there is no absolute right to have information deleted, and Google will have to weigh a number of criteria in responding to the requests to delete links, including relevance of the information, and the time passed since the facts related.'
If Google is all about doing no evil and playing nice, why wouldn't they delete the information?
Because some of those requests are almost certainly from nasty people wanting Google to cover up their crimes?
Is it evil to refuse to delete information about a person's public comments or valid criminal record?
Removing slander is one thing, removing accurate information that is public record could be considered censorship. Which is evil in that case? Or... wow, maybe it's not so black and white...
You're a bit insane, you know that?
Oh certainly, but that's beside the point. :)
It has long been known that what you post online, for all the world to see, is YOUR responsiblity.
Google is ignorant in a lot of realms, and I criticize them regularly. But one thing they DO get right (about the only thing....) is search. They are NOT reponsible for whatever is posted by whoever about whoever.
Don't like what A said about B? Take it up with A. Google had nothing to do with it. All they did was report that A said X about B. Capiche?
and the do no evil part of that is called rehabilitation of offenders. Most (if not all) EU countries have laws that state you do not need to inform anyone of a past crime after a certain amount of time - this means that they should not affect your employment prospects. There are obvious exceptions to this for sexual offences against the vulnerable. We like to think that once you serve your sentence your debt is paid.
Removing slander is one thing, removing accurate information that is public record could be considered censorship
What is a "public record" in one country may be defined differently in another. Likewise, thresholds for what is slander differ as well.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
is how the "Right to be Forgotten" started. "Google v González" - Ok, so, this dude petitions to have his name struck from all internet search records because when his name is searched, it turns up records of a previous debt issue where he owed money, and as a result, the government forced sale of his property. He wanted to be removed from the search! What's the result? Precedent set, law passed, and now this fool is known notoriously as the guy who owed money and had forced property sale and whined about it to try to hide history all the way to the supreme court. All of this information is, of course, fully searchable. Good job González.
I suspect there's quite a lot of people who are running questionable schemes requesting removal of information that would show their bullshit schemes as bullshit schemes and them as bullshit peddlers.
say, you're actively committing fraud, by claiming that you're a doctor of alien sciences or some bullshit like that. should you be able to remove all criticism about your "alien artifact healing technology" or not?
should some random dude be able to remove _my_ information that I _want_ to be available?
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
It's also worth noting that these requests are not coming from the content owners, they are coming from people that the content is "about"
in days of old - you'd have to manually search an unindexed and massive collection of newspapers on microfiche to locate news articles about a crime that was "expunged" by the rehabilitation of offenders act. these days 10 seconds of google can turn them all up. There is no suddenly in the act, there's a sliding scale based upon how long the sentence was. If you're jailed for 4 years or more the conviction does not become non-disclosable. Failing to employ someone in there 40s because they had a shoplifting conviction when they were 18 is unfair on the silly mistakes of youth.
As far as the internet is concerned, if you don't appear on Google, you don't exist. Practically speaking, a lot of people doing research today start with a quick google search. If they don't get any results, they are likely to assume the subject doesn't exist/never happened.
As for your point about historical records, accounts etc, the same are often accused of being fabricated/simply ignored. For example, even today there are many who deny that the Holocaust ever happened. Similarly, until today the government of Japan still denies that the Nanking Massacre occurred.
My point is, if this information is freely available on the web, it is much harder to deny the truth. Make this information disappear, and it is much easier to brainwash the public into believing it is a lie.
This brainwashing process has already begun.
APPEAL FOR URGENT BUSINESS ASSISTANCE.
Dearest One,
Permit me to inform you of my desire of having a terrible wrong righted! I am quite aware that my message will come to you as a surprise because it is indeed very strange for someone you have not met before to contact you in this regard.
l am Judy Robert the only daughter of late Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Robert. My father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Abidjan here, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, he was poisoned to death by his only brother (My Uncle) and his business associates on one of their business meeting. My mother died on the 15th June 1991 and my father took me so special because l am motherless.
Before the death of my father on 21st December 2008 in a private hospital here in Abidjan, he secretly called me on his bedside, when I sat down to listen to him, he started crying, when I asked him why?
(1) He complained that I am too young to be managing my life with no one to take care of me,(2)That I have not finished my university education as he planned for me, he revealed to me that he has a sum of US$6.5 ,000,000.00(Six Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) left in a security company here in Abidjan, that he used my name as the only daughter for his next of kin in deposit of the funds in the box.
He also explained to me that it was because of this wealth that he was poisoned by his only brother (My Uncle) and his business associates, that l should stay away from them as they are evil he warned me seriously not associate with his brother that is my uncle, that I should seek for a God fearing foreign partner in a country of my choice where l will transfer this money and use it for proper investment purpose. Unfortunately, as I was attempting to contact people to aid in retrieving my inheritance, my father's only brother (My Uncle) and his business associates on one of their business meeting decided to besmirch my character and called me a scammer. Now I show up in all search results as a scammer and have no sane hope of achieving my rightful inheritance.
Dear, I am honorably seeking your assistance in the following ways:
(1) To help me by removing these bad search results about myself.
(2) To help me by giving search results advising me to invest the money in a good business. Like Real estate or Hotel Business.
(3) To giving search results on how to make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education and also to secure a resident permit in your country.
Moreover, Dear I am willing to offer you 15% of the total sum as compensation for your effort/ input after the successful removal of this bad search result to you. Furthermore, please indicate your options towards assisting me as I believe that this transaction would be conclude within seven (7) days you signify your interest to assist me. Email me on my email address for me to send more details to you.
judyrobert1759@
gmail.Com
Anticipating hearing from you urgently.
Thanks and God bless.
Yours Sincerely,
Judy Robert
say, you're actively committing fraud, by claiming that you're a doctor of alien sciences or some bullshit like that. should you be able to remove all criticism about your "alien artifact healing technology" or not?
should some random dude be able to remove _my_ information that I _want_ to be available?
To the first, I don't believe that is the kind of information Google is required to remove. To the second, Google requires verification of ID as part of the removal process.
Don't get me wrong, I think asking search engines to forget publically available data is censorship, and it seems like it must cost Google quite a bit to comply with such requirements. Still, let's at least criticize this development for what it is, not for what it might be in bizarro-world.
Since they're not (and can not) delete the actual information itself being stored on the 3rd party website, there are 2 major problems:
1. They will need to keep track of each deletion request indefinitely to prevent the information from being re-indexed on the next crawl.
2. Google is only one search engine; there are many others.