The first in a planned series of 7 public debates on the “right to be forgotten,” organized by Google’s Advisory Council, was held in Madrid on the 9th. According to Reuters [1], the debate was attended by 8 experts from Spain, and several participants, including the head of the country’s association of privacy professionals, questioned whether decisions that affect public access to information should be entrusted to a private company such as Google.
Google’s Advisory Council consists of Chairman Schmidt and Chief Legal Officer Drummond, joined by:
- Luciano Floridi, Professor at the University of Oxford (well known for the philosophy of information)
- Silvie Kaufmann, Executive Editor of the French newspaper Le Monde
- Lidia Kolucka-Zuk, former adviser to the President of Poland
- Frank La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
- José-Luis Piñar, former Vice-Chairman of the Article 29 Working Party
- Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, former German Minister of Justice
- Peggy Valcke, Professor at KU Leuven
- Jimmy Wales, founder of the Wikimedia Foundation
These 8 additional members bring the Council’s total membership to 10.
Although EU authorities have welcomed this series of debates, some people, including Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, president of the French authority CNIL, have criticized it on the grounds that the participants are not selected openly and that Google chooses them, allowing the company to steer the discussion through the process.
The content of the series of debates will be compiled into a report and submitted to Google next year.
The next meeting will be held in Rome on the 10th.
[1] http://jp.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idJPL3N0RB12P20140910
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