Google case puts spotlight on ‘right to be forgotten’

THE emergence of the internet could mean that people’s past crimes and misdemeanours can never be erased, a High Court judge has said.

Mr Justice Nicklin said people had a “right to be forgotten” and legislation relating to the rehabilitation of offenders decreed that criminal convictions were “spent” after a specified period.

But he said the internet provided a challenge to that right.

He made his comments in a preliminary analysis of a landmark case in which two men want Google to stop linking their names to internet information referring to criminal convictions.

The two men say convictions are more than a decade old and legally “spent”.

Both have taken legal action against Google bosses arguing they have a “right to be forgotten”.

A judge will consider rival arguments later this year.

Mr Justice Nicklin oversaw a preliminary hearing at the High Court in London on Thursday.

He said the cases were the first of their kind to be aired in England.

“This ‘right to be forgotten’ is not a new concept,” said Mr Justice Nicklin in a written preliminary ruling.

“The underlying rationale is that, for all but the most serious offences, people should not have a lifelong ‘blot’ on their record but should be able to live without that shadow, and the consequences it may have for their employment or other areas of their life...

“The principle of a ‘right to be forgotten’ was recognised in domestic law many years ago.”

He added: “The internet provides a challenge to the ‘right to be forgotten’.