18 NGOs File an Intervention Before France’s Highest Court on Dangers of The ‘Right to Be Forgotten’

18 NGOs File an Intervention Before France’s Highest Court on Dangers of The ‘Right to Be Forgotten’

News Update|

Today, 18 expert non-governmental organisations from across the world have filed legal submissions before France’s highest court, the Council of State (Conseil d’État), raising serious concerns about a ruling of France’s data protection authority, la Commission nationale informatique et libertés (“CNIL”), on the “right to be forgotten”.

In 2014, CNIL ordered Google to remove 21 links from the results of an internet search on the name of a French citizen who claims a “right to be forgotten.”  Google initially removed the links from its French search site (www.google.fr) and other European search sites (such as www.google.ie), but CNIL demanded it go further.  Google then blocked the links from results returned to European users, even when using Google’s non-European sites, including www.google.com.

CNIL however demands that when it orders content to be “forgotten” from search results, this decision must be given effect worldwide, meaning that the results must be made unavailable to all users internationally, regardless of where they are accessing internet search engines.  CNIL has also imposed a huge fine on Google, of €100,000.

Read more about it here.

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