France seeks to extend Google ‘right to be forgotten’.
From the post:
Google has 15 days to comply with a request from France’s data watchdog to extend the “right to be forgotten” to all its search engines.
Last year a European Court of Justice ruling let people ask Google to delist some information about them.
However, the data deleting system only strips information from searches done via Google’s European sites.
French data regulator CNIL said Google could face sanctions if it did not comply within the time limit.
In response, Google said in a statement: “We’ve been working hard to strike the right balance in implementing the European Court’s ruling, co-operating closely with data protection authorities.
“The ruling focused on services directed to European users, and that’s the approach we are taking in complying with it.”
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(emphasis in the original)
The first news I saw of this latest round of censorship from the EU was dated June 12, 2015. Assuming that started the fifteen (15) days running, Google has until the 27th of June, 2015, to comply.
Plenty enough time to reach an agreement with the other major search providers to go dark in the EU on the 27th of June, 2015.
By working with the EU at all on the fantasy right-to-be-forgotten, Google has encouraged a step towards Balkanization of the Internet, where what resources you may or may not see, will depend upon your physical location.
Not only does that increase the overhead for providers of Internet content, but it also robs the Internet of its most powerful feature, the free exchange of ideas, education and resources.
Eventually, even China will realize that the minor social eddies caused by use of the Internet pale when compared to the economic activity spurred by it. People do blame/credit the Internet with social power but where it has worked, the people who lost should have been removed long ago by other means.
Internet advocates are quick to take credit for things the Internet has not done, much as Unitarians of today want to claim Thomas Jefferson as a Unitarian. I would not credit the view of advocates as being a useful measure of the Internet’s social influence.
If that were the case, then why does sexism, rape, child porn, violence, racism, discrimination, etc. still exist? Hmmm, maybe the Internet isn’t as powerful as people think? Maybe the Internet reflects the same social relationships and short falls that exist off of the Internet? Could be.
Google needs to agree with other search providers to go dark for the EU for some specified time period. EU residents can see how the Internet looks with effective search tools. Perhaps they will communicate their wishes with regard to search engines to their duly elected representatives.
PS: Has anyone hacked CNIL lately? Just curious.