The right to be forgotten
Published Jun 16, 2022 12:05 am
'TOL VIEWS
Senator Francis N. Tolentino
The current world population as of June 2022 is around eight billion. Out of these eight billion souls, our desire to be an individual remembered in life by the generations to come – to leave a legacy and to have a substantial contribution to society – is attributable to a need to achieve a kind of immortality amid a finite life.
With digital economy permeating in all aspects of society, the way information is passed and processed through online platforms is at a tremendous pace. Going viral is as easy as a click of a button. That is, with the right content. What we want to avoid is going viral for the wrong reasons. Case in point: the recent viral video of a hit-and-run in Mandaluyong City.
What happens when your private information becomes widespread online? This may range from your family and personal life or any event occurring in the past that you want outside of public access.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU) gave teeth to the right to privacy by giving individuals (data subjects) the right to ask organizations (data controllers) to delete their personal data under circumstances enshrined under the GDPR.
In 2014, the Court of Justice of EU in Google Spain SL v. Costeja González, C-131/12 (2014), recognized an individual’s right to be forgotten. The court allowed the removal of Google search engine links containing information relating to Costeja González, which content were deemed inaccurate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purpose of initial processing and in light of the time that has elapsed. Thus, the recognition of the “the right to be forgotten.”
A trace of the history of the right to be forgotten would reveal that this is hinged on an individual’s right to avoid any perpetual stigma caused by actions performed in the past and widely accessible and publicized through the internet.
In the Philippines, our own Data Privacy Act gives data subjects the right to suspend, withdraw, or order the blocking, removal, or destruction of their personal information from the personal information controller’s filing system upon discovery and substantial proof that the personal information is incomplete, outdated, false, unlawfully obtained, used for unauthorized purposes, or are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected. Data subjects may also dispute the inaccuracy or error in the personal information and have this corrected immediately.
“Personal information” refers to any information, whether recorded in a material form or not, from which the identity of an individual is apparent or can be reasonably and directly ascertained by the entity holding the information, or when put together with other information, would directly and certainly identify an individual.
Despite the recognition of the right to be forgotten, or more generally, the right to privacy, there is still a need to balance this with that of the right to free speech and to information.
As such, it bears emphasizing that under our current laws, the benchmark by which a data subject can exercise this right to be forgotten would be in instances wherein the personal information is incomplete, outdated, false, unlawfully obtained, used for unauthorized purposes, or are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected.
In addition, Google announced last April 27, 2022 that it would allow people to request for removal certain content from its search pages pertaining to highly personal content that, if public, can cause direct harm to the people, such as bank accounts, phone number, physical address, and other personal information. However, requests for removal of content or information that involves public interest would not be delisted under Google’s search page. What would constitute public interest would have to be determined by diverse factors, which according to Google, can be based on whether the content is related to the requester’s professional life, a past crime, political office, position in public life, or whether the content itself is self-authored content, government documents, or journalistic in nature.
Notably, though, for successful requests for removal of the personal information on Google search pages, it would appear that the content would continue to still be available on the websites wherein this information is published.
Senator Francis N. Tolentino
The current world population as of June 2022 is around eight billion. Out of these eight billion souls, our desire to be an individual remembered in life by the generations to come – to leave a legacy and to have a substantial contribution to society – is attributable to a need to achieve a kind of immortality amid a finite life.
With digital economy permeating in all aspects of society, the way information is passed and processed through online platforms is at a tremendous pace. Going viral is as easy as a click of a button. That is, with the right content. What we want to avoid is going viral for the wrong reasons. Case in point: the recent viral video of a hit-and-run in Mandaluyong City.
What happens when your private information becomes widespread online? This may range from your family and personal life or any event occurring in the past that you want outside of public access.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU) gave teeth to the right to privacy by giving individuals (data subjects) the right to ask organizations (data controllers) to delete their personal data under circumstances enshrined under the GDPR.
In 2014, the Court of Justice of EU in Google Spain SL v. Costeja González, C-131/12 (2014), recognized an individual’s right to be forgotten. The court allowed the removal of Google search engine links containing information relating to Costeja González, which content were deemed inaccurate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purpose of initial processing and in light of the time that has elapsed. Thus, the recognition of the “the right to be forgotten.”
A trace of the history of the right to be forgotten would reveal that this is hinged on an individual’s right to avoid any perpetual stigma caused by actions performed in the past and widely accessible and publicized through the internet.
In the Philippines, our own Data Privacy Act gives data subjects the right to suspend, withdraw, or order the blocking, removal, or destruction of their personal information from the personal information controller’s filing system upon discovery and substantial proof that the personal information is incomplete, outdated, false, unlawfully obtained, used for unauthorized purposes, or are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected. Data subjects may also dispute the inaccuracy or error in the personal information and have this corrected immediately.
“Personal information” refers to any information, whether recorded in a material form or not, from which the identity of an individual is apparent or can be reasonably and directly ascertained by the entity holding the information, or when put together with other information, would directly and certainly identify an individual.
Despite the recognition of the right to be forgotten, or more generally, the right to privacy, there is still a need to balance this with that of the right to free speech and to information.
As such, it bears emphasizing that under our current laws, the benchmark by which a data subject can exercise this right to be forgotten would be in instances wherein the personal information is incomplete, outdated, false, unlawfully obtained, used for unauthorized purposes, or are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected.
In addition, Google announced last April 27, 2022 that it would allow people to request for removal certain content from its search pages pertaining to highly personal content that, if public, can cause direct harm to the people, such as bank accounts, phone number, physical address, and other personal information. However, requests for removal of content or information that involves public interest would not be delisted under Google’s search page. What would constitute public interest would have to be determined by diverse factors, which according to Google, can be based on whether the content is related to the requester’s professional life, a past crime, political office, position in public life, or whether the content itself is self-authored content, government documents, or journalistic in nature.
Notably, though, for successful requests for removal of the personal information on Google search pages, it would appear that the content would continue to still be available on the websites wherein this information is published.