Google Rejects French Order For 'Right To Be Forgotten'

Last month, French data protection agency CNIL ordered Google to comply with the European "right to be forgotten" order by delisting certain search results not just on the European versions of Google's search engine, but on all versions. Google has now publicly rejected that demand. CNIL has promised a response, and it's likely the case will go before local courts. Google says, This is a troubling development that risks serious chilling effects on the web. While the right to be forgotten may now be the law in Europe, it is not the law globally. Moreover, there are innumerable examples around the world where content that is declared illegal under the laws of one country, would be deemed legal in others: Thailand criminalizes some speech that is critical of its King, Turkey criminalizes some speech that is critical of Ataturk, and Russia outlaws some speech that is deemed to be "gay propaganda." If the CNIL's proposed approach were to be embraced as the standard for Internet regulation, we would find ourselves in a race to the bottom. In the end, the Internet would only be as free as the world's least free place.

Comments

Re:When do I get to be a multinational corp?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> I am failing to see how this relates

Microsoft and the EU clashed on a large number of topics related to whether or not Microsoft had a PC monopoly (before Apple's revival) and whether Microsoft used its monopoly position to unfairly eliminate competition. One of the major results of this struggle was Microsoft having to offer consumers a choice of browser (i.e. not just IE), a result that contributed to Google's rise because Google was the default search engine on most other browsers.

Today the EU and Google are clashing on a large number of topics related to whether or not Google...