Europe’s “Right to Be Forgotten” Curtailed In Court Test

A European court has for the first time applied the “right-to-be-forgotten” precedent from the European Court of Justice Google Spain decision earlier this year. That decision expanded the responsibility and potential liability of internet search engine operators, and said that under some circumstances the search engine can be required to remove links to certain web pages containing personal data. But a recent national court decision applying Google Spain demonstrated the right to be forgotten is far from absolute. The Court of Amsterdam rejected the complainant’s request to have references to his criminal past removed, ruling that the information was relevant and neither excessive nor unnecessarily defamatory.