Report: Google working on search removal tool for 'right to be forgotten'

Report: Google working on search removal tool for 'right to be forgotten'

Google is said to be creating an online tool to allow people to request the removal of certain links in search results that pertain to them.

Google is allegedly working on a method to allow people to request the removal of certain search results, a move tied to a European Union court decision this week that sided with a Spanish man who asked Google remove links pointing to articles about his home repossession.

The Spaniard lobbied the EU court that the repossession happened in the late 90s and should be forgotten. He argued Google violated his privacy rights by making the articles available for public viewing.

According to ITProPortal, other individuals have come forward immediately after the EU court’s decision came down, also requesting search result removals. German data protection commissioner Johannes Caspar has claimed that Google is working on a tool that would accommodate these requests.

Among the people who requested search results removal include a politician, a pedophile, a man who attempted his family and sought a news article about the incident to be removed, and a company that wants Google to remove links to a discussion pertaining to consumer rip-offs, according to USA Today.

Caspar said Google’s intake system would include an “authentication mechanism to weed out unauthorized takedown requests,” according to ITProPortal. Google already has similar tools in place, so how the new method would work is unclear. So far, the company has only acknowledged that it is working on something.

“The ruling has significant implications for how we handle takedown requests,” a Google spokesman said. “This is logistically complicated – not least because of the many languages involved and the need for careful review. As soon as we have thought through exactly how this will work, which may take several weeks, we will let our users know.”

The EU court ruling has its critics, as well. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales called the judgement “astonishing … one of the most wide-sweeping Internet censorship rulings that I’ve ever seen,” ITProPortal reported.

 

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