Google Wins Fight to Restrict Right-to-be-Forgotten Ruling to EU Search Engines
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Google wins fight to restrict right-to-be-forgotten ruling to EU search engines
Google has won a long-standing battle with the European Union (EU), after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled the company can limit the scope of the "right-to-be-forgotten" (RTBF) regulation to searches made within the EU.
Today's announcement was largely expected, given that an adviser to the EU's top court backed Google's case in January. (ECJ judges typically follow the advice given by the advocate general.) But now it's official, meaning Google and others will only have to delist search results from search engines inside the EU's perimeters.
"The Court concludes that, currently, there is no obligation under EU law for a search engine operator who grants a request for de-referencing made by a data subject, as the case may be, following an injunction from a supervisory or judicial authority of a Member State, to carry out such a de-referencing on all the versions of its search engine," the ECJ said in a press release.
[...]Although today's ruling is good news for Google and its ilk, it doesn't necessary mean there won't be similar cases in the future. The ECJ noted that although search engine operators are not required to carry out a de-referencing on all local versions of their search engine, they are not prohibited from doing so. Effectively, local jurisdictions within the EU are still free to weigh a person or company's right to privacy against the right to freedom of information on a case-by-case basis.
"The authorities of the member states remain competent to weigh up, in the light of national standards of protection of fundamental rights, a data subject's right to privacy and the protection of personal data concerning him or her, on the one hand, and the right to freedom of information, on the other. And after weighing those rights against each other, to order, where appropriate, the operator of that search engine to carry out a de-referencing concerning all versions of that search engine," ECJ's statement reads.
In other words, Google, Microsoft, and others could still find themselves having to fight global right-to-be-forgotten requests down the line. But today's ruling does set a precedent, one that may discourage EU member states - or individuals - from pursuing such a course of action.
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