The Right-To-Be-Forgotten rule is back to haunt Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). It started with the European Court pressuring Google to delete certain data a few months ago, now The Tokyo District court has urged Google to delete data from its search engine after a complaint was launched by a citizen.
The Tokyo Court ordered Google to delete 120-200 searches regarding the man who registered the complaint and claimed that his reputation was being tarnished because of the information on Google searches.
The plaintiff’s lawyer claimed that his client was under severe stress and his life is under threat because of the data on the Google search engine. The lawyer said that the data on Google is false and only a ploy to undermine the position of his client.
Google responded by saying that it has a certain procedure for deleting data, which is threatening and false. The company is currently reviewing the request filed and the process will take some time. Google has already started to respond to the order; it has taken down some of the data against the plaintiff.
Last May, Google suffered a setback when the European court defended a Spanish man who claimed that the data on Google was defaming him and hurting his identity in the process. European Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Since May 29, Google has been accepting thousands of requests to take down false data.
Google said that it only accepts those requests that are issued by authorities and if the data is actually injurious to the person. Out of every 100, Google acts on only a handful because most of the complaints are fact less.
The Tokyo Court order is likely to reignite arguments that started last May between advocators of Freedom of speech and those who stand in favor of the Right to Forget rule. Last month Google published a transparency report that revealed all those governments and agencies that are pressurizing Google to respond to their ‘requests’.
Google has also come under scrutiny because of accusations claiming that Google favors certain governments and firms who offer Google advertising as a bargain to get their names taken off of Internet.
Google was also criticized for hiding the heinous situation of human rights in China a couple of years ago. Google in its defense denied such accusations, calling them absurd and bitter. It is true Google is surrounded by many rivals and conspirators because of the grand stature of the firm and its significant position in privacy matters.
The right-to-be-forgotten law in itself is not iron clad; it has many loop holes that the court isn’t really aware of. It is Google’s right to inquire the nature of the request, to see if the data is actually harmful or is it just a ploy to hurt Google.
It should also be noted that it takes a lot of time and money for Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to flush out data and cater to all the pending requests. The future will reveal whether this law is actually trying to protect reputations or simply a setback to media’s right to freedom of speech.