Google’s appeal, described in GNI welcomes appeal to the global reach of “the right to be forgotten” by Ryan McChrystal, puts all of Europe on notice, despite centuries of Euro-centric education, publication, history writing and institutions:
Europe != World
From the post:
The Global Network Initiative welcomes the announcement that Google is appealing a French data protection authority ruling requiring the global take down of links to search information banned in France under Europe’s “right to be forgotten”.
We are concerned that the ruling, made by Commission Nationale de L’Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) in March, sets a disturbing precedent for the cause of an open and free Internet, and sends the message to other countries that they can force the banning of search results not just inside their own jurisdictions, but assert that jurisdiction across the globe.
Google began delisting search content in response to the Costeja ruling in July of 2014. Search links that are delisted in response to French citizens’ requests are removed from the local French domain (google.fr) as well as all of Europe. In early 2016 the company announced that it would further restrict access to links delisted in Europe by using geolocation technology to restrict access to the content on any Google Search domain when an individual searches from France. Despite this, the French authorities continue to demand global removal of these links from all Google search domains – regardless of from where in the world they are accessed.
“We are concerned about the impact of the CNIL order, which effectively allows the government of one country to dictate what the rest of the world is allowed to access online,” said GNI Board Chair Mark Stephens, CBE. “Enshrined in international law is the principle that one country cannot infringe upon the rights of citizens of another country,” he said.
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Make no mistake, I am utterly a child of the West/Europe but all the more reason to resist its cultural and legal imperialism.
Differences in cultures, languages, legal systems, whether current or historical, enrich the human experience.
Censoring expression and in the “right to be forgotten” case, censoring history, or rather attempts to discover history, impoverishes it.
The “right to be forgotten” is ample evidence that Europeans need productive leisure pursuits.
Non-Europeans should suggest hobbies, sports, or activities to distract Europeans from search engine results and towards more creative activities.