Chilling Effects indicates it may list ‘Right to be forgotten’ requests from EU citizens

Chillingeffects.org, the tech industry supported website that records governments’, corporations’, and individuals’ attempts to alter online content, appears to be gearing up to reveal so called ‘right to be forgotten’ requests from EU citizens.

A message posted on the site on June 6, 2014 indicates that Google and others may issue notices to the site of takedown requests from EU citizens. The message reads,

A request has been made to remove one or more links from a search page under European “right to be forgotten” rules, following Google Spain SL, Google Inc. v Agencia Espanola de Proteccion de Datos, Mario Costeja Gonzalez.

This message appears to be a test, rather than an actual takedown request. However, it suggests that being forgotten from the web may not be as easy as the EU anticipates.

Chillingeffects.org usually lists take-down requests issued to online companies, such as Twitter and Google, by copyright holders under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It also shows requests made by governments and courts for content to be removed.

Last month the European Court of Justice decreed that EU citizens have the right to have content about them removed from search engine results. Google opposed the move, citing fears of censorship, and citizens’ right to know.