‘Right to be forgotten’ group wins Google case

THEIR ranks include a plastic surgeon, a prison guard and a high-school principal. All are Spanish, but have little else in common except this: They want old internet references about them that pop up in Google searches wiped away.

In a case that Google and privacy experts call a first of its kind, Spain’s Data Protection Agency has ordered the search engine giant to remove links to material on about 90 people. The information was published years or even decades ago but is available to anyone via simple searches.

Scores of Spaniards lay claim to a “Right to be Forgotten” because public information once hard to get is now so easy to find on the internet. Google has decided to challenge the orders and has appealed five cases so far this year to the National Court.