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Google Rejects French Order For 'Right To Be Forgotten' 330

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.
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Google Rejects French Order For 'Right To Be Forgotten'

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  • May you (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    never be falsely be accused of rape.
    • by Himmy32 ( 650060 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @09:41AM (#50223045)
      False accusations suck, but that's not even it's primary use. But it would be naive to not consider the ramifications beyond. It could mean that search results for Tienanmen Square or Falun Gong could be missing world wide because Chinese law bans results for those pages in their jurisdiction. Every country wants their laws to apply to everyone else, but doesn't think of the consequences then of having to apply everyone else's laws to themselves.

      Even more so, seems silly that the remedy to a false accusation is to delist a page from a search result. Seems that libel statues would apply that you should direct at the content publisher not the search engine.

      The world will be a much scarier place if we don't have freedom of speech because some people could tell lies.
      • Every country wants their laws to apply to everyone else, but doesn't think of the consequences then of having to apply everyone else's laws to themselves.

        It's easy to avoid such consequences with a large enough military budget. Or why else would Google filter European search results referring to the DMCA?

        • Every country wants their laws to apply to everyone else, but doesn't think of the consequences then of having to apply everyone else's laws to themselves.

          It's easy to avoid such consequences with a large enough military budget. Or why else would Google filter European search results referring to the DMCA?

          Wth does the military have to do with it?

      • But it would be naive to not consider the ramifications beyond. It could mean that search results for Tienanmen Square or Falun Gong could be missing world wide because Chinese law bans results for those pages in their jurisdiction.

        Yes, but only if google wants to do business in China. Frankly, China could demand that either way with the price being either STFU or GTFO. Personally, I'd say the best choice would be to GTFO.

        The world will be a much scarier place if we don't have freedom of speech because som

      • Seems that libel statues would apply that you should direct at the content publisher not the search engine.

        The fact that someone was accused/arrested/went to trial for some offence is not libel or slander; it is a fact. There is no way libel/slander laws can take down facts. The judgement someone else makes based on that fact can be a problem. For some people a mere accusation is enough to create a negative judgement.

        • From a US perspective, perhaps. But truth is not a defense in Europe, even for public figures (who thus use censorship to protect their power by preventing criticism.)

          The legal power to silence criticism is at the core of the absolutist nature of the First Amendment. Government doesn't get to decide what kinds of criticism are permitted, by them, the people in power with police behind them.

      • According to TFA, it's about the TLD: something censored from google.fr, .de is not censored from google.com, even if requested from an EU IP address. It's not about censoring search results on google.com for a for a user located in the US. It is not about where the data centers serving those TLDs are located and whether they are owned by a EU-based subsidiary or not. Google could easily serve all those TLDs from the same ip address and data center if they wanted, but that is not the point.

        We can agree or n

    • Let Paris implement its own Grand mur de la France, behind which it can spend what it takes on a search engine with a Forget Me feature.

      • Re:May you (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @11:39AM (#50224185)

        Ain't necessary. In France, Google does actually filter the results.

        Implementing such a thing would not accomplish anything.

        France wishes to enforce its laws outside of France. And that's something they lack the aircraft carriers for.

      • by lgw ( 121541 )

        Let Paris implement its own Grand mur de la France, behind which it can spend what it takes on a search engine with a Forget Me feature.

        France did try building a Grand mur de la France once, of course, but then the Germans just went around it. Google search results are already filtered in France as needed to comply with French law, but France seems to be upset here that the Germans (or French with a VPN) are getting around it. Somehow, I don't think they'll learn this time, either.

    • Re:May you (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Sloppy ( 14984 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @10:19AM (#50223415) Homepage Journal

      And let's also hope that nobody ever actually commits rape and gets caught and convicted.

      Censorship is always a two-edged sword. I have never heard of any form of censorship where you couldn't rightly cite some examples where it's a good idea, but freedom-lovers can play the examples game too.

      Loose lips sink ships, but the king is taxing us unfairly. Which side are you on?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by kthreadd ( 1558445 )

      never be falsely be accused of rape.

      So what? You WERE accused of rape. That's not going away, it's part of history. Any sensible person and most insensible people know the difference between being accused of something and actually being convicted for it. And if you actually were convicted for it, then deal with it.

      • Re:May you (Score:4, Insightful)

        by nblender ( 741424 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @11:40AM (#50224193)
        That's the theory... I see a number of local headlines of the form "Joe Shmoe has been arrested on suspicion of child molestation and trafficking of a person under the age of 18" ... Well, I don't know if I've ever seen a headline that says "Joe Shmoe was cleared of all charges relating to his arrest for child molestation and trafficking" ... So when Joe Shmoe wants to continue his career as a youth swimming instructor, I predict he's largely fucked even though, technically, everything should be ok. I think most insensible people know the difference between being accused and actually being convicted but I also think most parents are going to say "well, he probably got off on a technicality and where there's smoke there's fire so i'm not going to trust him with my 14 year old daughter"...

        The theoretical world is a nice place to live in, if you can find a way to do it... But here in the real world, things aren't always ideal.
      • it's part of history. Any sensible person and most insensible people know the difference between being accused of something and actually being convicted for it.

        Maybe "sensible" people recognize that distinction.

        But, be honest here -- if you were a young woman, and you searched for a guy you were considering dating and saw he had been "accused of" rape, would you go out with him? Would you even bother asking for his story? Or would just say, "Uh... no thanks"?

        If you were in charge of hiring someone for a position, and you did a search and saw a guy was "accused of" rape, would you think twice about hiring the guy? If you had 50 applicants for the job, wouldn

      • by ADRA ( 37398 )

        In all likelihood, the convicted rapist couldn't get their names removed anyways since its in the public's best interest to know, but hell slashdot thinks the whole law is a rubber stamp, so whatev's. Well, it really depends on the laws of the land, because sometimes countries allow for long-ago rapists' records to be expunged, so maybe right-to-be-forgotten would eventually kick in for 'reformed' rapists.

    • by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

      If people believes it because it's on the net...

      We have already seen that information have been cut off from the search results due to copyright claims or for being "unsafe". This is a slippery slope.

    • In most cases this will have an impact on you inside your country. There, it is filtered.

      If you have to deal with foreign parties for some reason, this usually also means that you're dealing with people who know better than to trust some sources just 'cause it's on the net.

  • by disposable60 ( 735022 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @09:28AM (#50222907) Journal

    Once upon a time, when most of us lived in smallish villages, ALL your neighbors knew your business - the only way to have anonymity was to leave town, which was difficult and dangerous. Now everyone's village spans the globe, and leaving is even more difficult and dangerous. I value anonymity, which I maintain by seeming as average as possible.

    • by qubex ( 206736 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @09:56AM (#50223173) Homepage

      Incidentally, this was also why people were so wary of outsiders: because they lacked a known history attesting to their character, and because one always wondered what incentive had caused them to favour the uncertainties of leaving their town to venture elsewhere. It is also the root origin of patronymics.

      In several credited (*cough*) theories it is also the origin of money: allowing people deemed to be “credit risks” (which is to say, without a known history nor a certainty of future reciprocation) to engage in transactions.

      Just sayin’.

  • Good (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31, 2015 @09:29AM (#50222913)

    "Right to be forgotten" is just a cover-up tool used by elites to wipe their messes off then net. Censorship is censorship, whatever euphemism you invent to rationalize it. Just another terrible idea that I hope stays isolated to Europe.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31, 2015 @09:30AM (#50222925)

    Google already has no presence China (and arguably for noble reasons -- they didn't feel like giving up lists of dissidents).

    I wonder if the same thing will happen in France, if not the entire EU. They can shut down Google's presence there and jail all employees, but the data can be replicated offshore, making all the right to be forgotten laws a moot point.

    Wonder who will win. Ultimately, can Google lose the EU for a market as they did China?

  • Its not unreasonable to expect Google to do the delisting on all TLDs when accessed in Europe.
    • by nnet ( 20306 )
      When accessed via ipv4, sure. Since there's no reliable geolocation for ipv6, EU people could still see "forgotten" data.
    • by halivar ( 535827 )

      That's not what the French are asking for.

    • Re:Red Herring (Score:4, Insightful)

      by SvnLyrBrto ( 62138 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @10:12AM (#50223333)

      It's absolutely unreasonable to demand that Google, or any other search engine, take down these listings... or any listing at all... whether it's in .fr .com .uk.co or anywhere else.

      If the content is libelous, defamatory, or otherwise illegal, the proper legal steps should be followed to have said content taken down at the source. And the next time the Google runs its spider, it will vanish from the index. What France is trying to do is shuffle the responsibilities of its own courts off onto Google and demanding that they perform those services for free an ineffectively (Since the banned content is still there.) And that's aside from the fact that in many cases, they're demanding that Google delist content that is not, in fact, libel or defamation.

      • Re:Red Herring (Score:4, Interesting)

        by david_thornley ( 598059 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @01:49PM (#50225255)

        The original complaint was a Spaniard who had filed bankruptcy quite a few years earlier. By Spanish law, that information could not be used any more in financial decisions about him, but a Google search brought it up. The court ordered Google to not associate the Spaniard's name with the information. Removing the notice of bankruptcy would have caused worse problems.

        In many cases in many European countries, information about certain things is considered no longer usable for decisions. This allows people to have solid second chances at putting their lives together, an idea that seems foreign to the US. It doesn't work if the information in question comes up in a Google search of the person's name.

        There is good reasoning behind the "right to be forgotten" requests (although the system is abusable).

    • they did for .fr, a year ago. CLIN is demanding removal from all directories, planet-wide. Go read Google's reply.
  • Correction (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "In the end, the Internet would only be as free as the world's least free place."

    No, it would be even less free than that. It would be the intersection of the freedoms in all places, which is a subset of the freedoms in the least free place.

  • I thought the whole idea behind the 'right to be forgotten' was that google would 'forget' who you were. If they only forget you in the EU(search results come up as 0), but still have all the data on you (serach indexes, etc) then you haven't been forgotten have you?

    I think that's what France is trying to point out here.
    • And that's the big hole in "Right To Be Forgotten." You can't apply one country's (or a group of countries') laws against the entire Internet. Russia can't demand that US hosted pro-gay rights materials be taken down because they violate Russia's anti-gay laws and France can't demand that Google's United States website delist pages because French courts decided that those pages should be forgotten. For better or worse, you can't just demand that the entire Internet forget about you.

    • I thought the whole idea behind the 'right to be forgotten' was that google would 'forget' who you were. If they only forget you in the EU(search results come up as 0), but still have all the data on you (serach indexes, etc) then you haven't been forgotten have you?

      I think that's what France is trying to point out here.

      And what France is missing is that their precious "right to be forgotten" is ridiculous and unenforceable. It's effectively an attempt to export censorship. No private sector company could reasonably follow that silly law without entirely gutting their business in the process. France has NO right to prevent me from searching for data here in the US just like I don't really think China should have the right to censor what I read outside of their country. They are trying to put toothpaste back in the tube

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Google already censors the web according to US laws and preferences. They're constantly taking down links to child pornography. They take down links to copyrighted content. They're even taking down links to revenge porn now. This isn't a principled stand. Google doesn't want to comply with the European law.

    • Google is allowed to censer whatever it wants. The company has its own right to do that. The difference is being forced to do it. A search engine that returns nothing is pretty useless, so they want to return as much as possible.
    • by ADRA ( 37398 )

      Child pornography is almost universally illegal throughout the world. Certainly sexual exploitation laws vary throughout the world, given that children can legally marry in some countries (sigh). I don't know a single Country that allows distribution of said material, though it would add value to the discussion for the interested scholar.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @09:51AM (#50223139)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @09:56AM (#50223177)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Everything everyone does is part of history.

      Actually, that's not at all true, at least in the meaning of "history" before the internet. History is traditionally a narrative created about the past, usually derived from reliable sources (or at least what were considered reliable by the author of the narrative). A random recollection of some dude about some other dude was not "history" -- it was "gossip" at best. It only became "history" if someone wrote down the account and gave it credibility.

      In the past, reliable records about the vast majority

    • by ADRA ( 37398 )

      There's also no natural laws for right to life, speech, privacy, property, etc.. but we have laws to enforce them. I think a you need a better argument, like the actual material harm to society if you want anyone outside of the fringe to listen to you. Yes, I'm addressing you, not the topic at hand specifically.

      Regarding the actual point you made in the end, the law apparently has some form of distinction between privacy and the information in the public's interest, so depending on the implementation of sai

  • Not showing up in Google does not remove it from the Internet. Make requests to the hosting site for removal. Then it won't show up in any search engine.
  • Privacy = Censorship

    I love when Slashdot ideals conflict. Big brother already won !

  • Actions you committed under whatever name you currently used at that time (if in the real world, real name) should be accessible, if crawled or backed up. There is no "forced forgetfulness" in the real world: if you walk a street drunk and naked, you can't force bypassers to forgot your sorry face. Forced erasure of fairly recorded content in the name of "fair image" is just censorship in disguise.
  • it is a feel-good, empty band aid law for technologically illiterate people

    1. you can easily circumvent it by accessing google with a vpn in another country, which is second nature for anyone vaguely aware. if that employer or possible date looks you up, it takes 15 seconds more effort. they will do it. they won't blindly accept and abide by the censorial coddling of the EU like good little citizens

    2. any employer or date who will disregard you for stupid shit you did as a teenager is no one you want to dat

    • by ADRA ( 37398 )

      I can get paid under the table and the gov can't stop me
      I can cross borders and buy there to avoid local taxes

      Just because I can avoid the rules doesn't mean the rules aren't important. Maybe eventually the majority of the world will agree on rules and there won't be places for cheating the system to happen, but something tells my that is your worst case scenario.

      "Well, the creeper took nude pics of me walking around home naked and posted them on the internet. I was pissed until I realized that information

      • you completely miss the point

        laws exist with philosophical and moral validity, like against murder, and without philosophical and moral validity, like against marijuana

        history is replete with people disobeying stupid and useless laws, and forcing change. civil disobedience. just because a law exists you blindly follow it without thought?

        "Well, the creeper took nude pics of me walking around home naked and posted them on the internet. I was pissed until I realized that information just wants to be free, so l

  • by CaptainDork ( 3678879 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @10:06AM (#50223249)

    Where are the other search engines, and why aren't they subjected to the same laws and stuff?

    • Once / if they manage to strong-arm Google, the other engines will be next. They are all subject to these laws, per CLIN.
  • What you post on the internet, is on the internet. Period. Nothing you can do about it. When someone else posts a private pic of you on the internet, bad luck, no way to remove it. Go sue the person for damages.

    I'm in Europe. "Europe" does not have a law that gives you the right to be not on Google. Some countries in Europe have, like the French. Soon, the French will have a law that says the internet can only be in French.

  • Join the French Foreign Legion.

  • by Mr_Blank ( 172031 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @10:13AM (#50223337) Journal

    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.

    Correction: The Internet would only be as free as the intersection of all least free places. Anything that is forbidden anywhere would be forbidden everywhere.

  • by Zcar ( 756484 )

    "In the end, the Internet would only be as free as the world's least free place."

    Less free. The internet would only be as free as the union of of the most restrictive policies across jurisdictions. This would be at least as restrictive as the most restrictive individual jurisdiction, probably more.

  • I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

  • by rickb928 ( 945187 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @10:56AM (#50223797) Homepage Journal

    This ends up with the Internet being challenged by the least free nation ON ANY GIVEN SITUATION to restrict data or access based on that nation's restrictions.

    And that would force less restrictive nations to comply.

    Or not.

    I vote not. Let nations that cannot tolerate the freedom of others to deal with the problem at their borders.

    And leave the rest alone.

    This is worth fighting for.

  • EU must protect its citizens, The great firewall of EU will now be implemented :)

    yayyy

  • Of course you have a right to be forgotten. We'll start with your politicians.

    entering "Francois Hollande" into google...

    searching ...

    no results for your request. Did you mean "french hollandaise"?

  • So, France wants their dumb "Right to be forgotten" rule to be applied world-wide. OK, but what happens when Iran wants any references to the Holocaust to be deleted from search results because some Iranian court rules that the Holocaust never happened and is all just a Zionist hoax? Now French citizens can't lookup information about the Holocaust. And China wants all search results about Tienanmen Square removed? The French need to learn that the internet is about open access and information. Try to r

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