According to a BBC News report[1], Google plans to hold public meetings on the “right to be forgotten,” starting with the first meeting in Madrid on September 9 and continuing through November 4, for a total of 7 meetings in the capitals of European countries[2]. By August, Google had received 90,000 requests for removal. It had actually removed about half of them, while rejecting the other half as inappropriate requests. The difficulty is that Google cannot simply remove the material because it must also balance the public’s “right to know.”
Google therefore intends to hold these meetings to discuss and consider how to balance the “right to be forgotten” with the “right to know.” The meetings will be conducted by an Advisory Council established by Google, with a member of the Council serving as chair. The Council includes Wikimedia Foundation founder Jimmy Wales, former privacy authority officials, and judges who have been involved in privacy-related cases.
EU authorities reportedly welcome the initiative, which begins just before a meeting of EU national data protection authorities starting on September 15 to discuss how to apply the “right to be forgotten” consistently across search engines. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, president of the French authority CNIL, was critical, however. In an interview with Reuters[3], she said, “They want to be seen as open and ethical. But the Council members are appointed by Google, and they decide who can participate as an audience member and what conclusions will be reached.”
[1] http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28344705
[2] https://www.google.com/advisorycouncil/
[3] http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/08/us-google-privacy-idUSKBN0H308I20140908
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