The right to be forgotten : a descriptive overview of the right to be forgotten

Abstract

On the 5th of March 2010, Mr Costeja González lodged a complaint in the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) against the publisher of the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Google Spain and Google Inc. In his complaint, he requested that personal data related to him be removed or concealed. The case, known as Google v. Costeja, reached the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with a request for a preliminary ruling. On the 9th of May 2014, the CJEU recognised that a “right to be forgotten” was rooted in the provisions of Directive 95/46 (the Data Protection Directive). This final dissertation aims to present a general overview of a “right to be forgotten”. Through a descriptive approach, it intends to provide an outline of the background, present and future of a “right to be forgotten”. A special emphasis is made on the balancing of interests underlying such a right, which are closely linked to the right to privacy, the right to freedom of expression and access to information, and the principle of rehabilitation. Furthermore, this final dissertation hopes to provide an insightful analysis of Google v. Costeja, Google’s implementation of a “right to be forgotten” and the recent and future developments on such right. We conclude that the CJEU was correct in recognising a “right to be forgotten” within EU law. However, it is necessary to acknowledge that such a right actually encompasses different “rights to be forgotten”. Lastly, we call for the need of a hybrid system in the implementation of the “rights to be forgotten” by private companies.