The Right to be Forgotten by George Brock

Author:George Brock [Brock, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Media Studies
ISBN: 9781786721129
Google: b7mKDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-09-30T03:33:30+00:00

The ‘Streisand effect’

The objections to the creation of a right to be forgotten were strong enough to provoke what privacy lawyers call, after the singer, the ‘Streisand effect’. Complaining about any breach of personal privacy almost invariably risks a repetition or aggravation of the original disclosure. The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail have regularly reported links to their own stories which have been taken down. The gay news website Pink News has published a list of 19 stories delinked, claiming that this is ‘infringement of press freedom’. The stories include allegations of homophobic comments by a BBC star and a report about a gay porn actor trying to smuggle crystal meth on to a transatlantic flight to the UK.

Google Spain did cause a switch in tactics by law firms: injured parties no longer needed to calculate the risks of ponderous and expensive litigation. Richer complainants still had advantages but the opportunity of redress was spread wider. Dan Tench, an experienced media lawyer at the London partnership Olswang, said that a combination of the reforms to libel law in 2013 (which had the effect of making successful claims harder) and the Google Spain case had changed the nature of his work. ‘I just do much less defamation and privacy work now. In many cases, clients see the right to be forgotten as the quick, easy route to go.’

Law firms with media or information rights practices were not slow to see that, even if Google had tried to make requests simple and do-it-yourself, there was a potential market for advice and help. Put ‘right to be forgotten solicitors’ into Google in the UK and the second link which came up in early 2016 was headed: ‘Right To Be Forgotten – Get Results Removed’ from Brett Wilson LLP, whose question-and-answer at the linked page does explain that the right is not absolute and the tests which need to be passed for removal. It adds:

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