Google ruling puts privacy over free information

People should have some say over the results that pop up when they conduct a vanity search online.

That is the thrust of a landmark European court ruling saying Google must listen and sometimes comply when individuals ask the internet search giant to remove links to newspaper articles or websites containing personal information.

Campaigners in Europe have said the ruling from Europe’s highest court, stemming from a Spanish case, effectively backs individual privacy rights over the freedom of information.

However Irish experts cautioned against putting too much significance on the ruling or its potential implications.

Associate professor at Trinity College, Eoin O’Dell, said there were three important aspects to the case which distinguished it from other disputes. He said the Spanish action was a clear-cut case where the circumstances had clearly changed and the man had a right to be forgotten.

Mr O’Dell said a lot of the outstanding questions are likely to be dealt with under the new data protection directive, rather than in the courts which is supposed to legislate for the issues at hand.

Solicitor Simon McGarr said some early reporting of yesterday’s judgment had overstated its implications and it did not create an automatic right to have search links removed.

“Some outlets are reporting that this judgment means that Google must amend their results on request,” said Mr McGarr.

“In fact, what is being removed and who is asking for it to be taken out will have to be weighed up for each request.”

In yesterday’s advisory judgment, the court found that, under European law, individuals have a right to control over their private data, especially if they are not public figures.

If they want irrelevant or incorrect personal information about themselves “forgotten”, they “may address such a request directly to the operator of the search engine... which must then duly examine its merits”, the ruling said.

Whether the request should be granted will depend “on the nature of the information and its sensitivity for the data subject’s private life and on the interest of the public in having that information, an interest which may vary”, it said.

Google must remove links to pages containing the information from results “unless there are particular reasons, such as the role played by the data subject in public life, justifying a preponderant interest of the public in having access to the information when such a search is made”, the court said.

Google argued that it does not control personal data, it just offers links to information already freely and legally available on the internet. It also argued that it should not be forced to play the role of censor.

The leading case was from a Spaniard named Mario Costeja who said that when his name was Googled it threw up references to an advertisement for a property auction related to an unpaid social welfare debt.

Mr Costeja and the agency argued that the debt had long been settled and the reference should be removed.