Last week a landmark privacy decision was made by the European Union Court of Justice that grants EU citizens the “right to be forgotten.”
The ruling stipulates that users can ask for Google to stop linking to anything that’s “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed.”
Following this ruling, Google has opened up an online form where you can ask to have links to personal data removed from Google’s search results.
How It Works
When submitting links to be removed, you are asked to provide Google with the URLs as well as an explanation as to how the links relate to you.
You will also be asked for your name, contact email address, and a scan of your photo ID.
Once you submit links that you want to have removed, Google will “assess each individual request and attempt to balance the privacy rights of the individual with the public’s right to know and distribute information.”
These assessments will be made by a committee of experts. This is to prevent wrongdoers from erasing their past.
During the assessments, Google promises to consider “whether there’s a public interest in the information — for example, information about financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions or public conduct of government officials.”
If your submissions is approved and Google decides to removes the links you provided, the links will be erased from search results in Google sites across the EU.
Google also adds that the online form, and submission process, will be refined over time.
