{"id":21770,"date":"2015-07-10T05:45:25","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T09:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=21770"},"modified":"2015-07-09T21:56:49","modified_gmt":"2015-07-10T01:56:49","slug":"should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten\/","title":{"rendered":"Should we have the right to be forgotten?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As we blogged about <\/a>last year, the highest court of the European Union ruled that Google must implement \u201cthe right to be forgotten,\u201d requiring the search engine to strike out embarrassing about individuals upon their request<\/a>.\u00a0 There is now a movement to bring that right to the United States.<\/p>\n

Read about it after the jump.\u00a0 Would this be a blow for internet privacy?\u00a0 Or an effort to censor the internet?\u00a0 Would it be a salutary method of covering up old mistakes?\u00a0 Or an attempt to remake history by implementing an Orwellian \u201cmemory hole\u201d?<\/p>\n

From Andrea Peterson, Consumer group wants government to make Google give Americans the \u2018right to be forgotten\u2019 online \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Internet users in Europe have something Internet users in the U.S. don\u2019t have: a right to be forgotten online. Thanks to a 2014 court case, Europeans can ask search giants to remove results that are outdated, inaccurate, or irrelevant \u2014 giving them more control over their online reputations.<\/p>\n

But now, one consumer group is asking the Federal Trade Commission to make Google bring that privacy protection to Americans. In a formal complaint to be sent to the agency Tuesday, Consumer Watchdog argues that withholding that ability from U.S. Internet users is unfair and deceptive \u2014 two types of business practices the FTC is charged with protecting consumers against. The letter urges the FTC to \u201cinvestigate and act\u201d on the situation.<\/p>\n

[Opinion: The \u2018right to be forgotten\u2019 online is really a right to be forgiven]<\/p>\n

The right to be forgotten, or the right of relevancy, has gained new urgency in the digital age, the group argues in the letter to the FTC. \u201cBefore the Internet if someone did something foolish when they were young \u2013 and most of us probably did \u2013 there might well be a public record of what happened,\u201d the letter says. But then, those indiscretions required digging to bring up years or decades down the line \u2014 and now they\u2019re \u201cinstantly available with a few clicks on a computer or taps on a mobile device.\u201d<\/p>\n

The right to be forgotten gives back a level of the privacy by obscurity that people enjoyed before the Internet age, Consumer Watchdog argues. But Google has been unwilling to extend the practice beyond where it\u2019s currently explicitly required \u2014 a state of affairs John Simpson, the director of the organization\u2019s Privacy Project, believes puts it on the wrong side of the FTC\u2019s mandate to protect consumers.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we blogged about last year, the highest court of the European Union ruled that Google must implement \u201cthe right to be forgotten,\u201d requiring the search engine to strike out embarrassing about individuals upon their request.\u00a0 There is now a movement to bring that right to the United States. Read about it after the jump.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[938,3154],"class_list":["post-21770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-google","tag-right-to-be-forgotten"],"yoast_head":"\nShould we have the right to be forgotten?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As we blogged about last year, the highest court of the European Union ruled that Google must implement "the right to be forgotten," requiring the search\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should we have the right to be forgotten?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we blogged about last year, the highest court of the European Union ruled that Google must implement "the right to be forgotten," requiring the search\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-10T09:45:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-10T01:56:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten\/\",\"name\":\"Should we have the right to be forgotten?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-10T09:45:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-10T01:56:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"As we blogged about last year, the highest court of the European Union ruled that Google must implement \\\"the right to be forgotten,\\\" requiring the search\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/07\/should-we-have-the-right-to-be-forgotten\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should we have the right to be forgotten?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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