Google has released a schedule for presentations from “experts” on the “right to be forgotten,” which will take place throughout the fall. Consider it Google’s Right to be Forgotten Tour 2014 (I hope there are t-shirts).
The company recently announced the formation of its Advisory Council on the subject, which stems from a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, saying that search engines must provide people in the EU with a means of requesting content about them be removed from search results. You can get caught up on the whole mess here, but suffice it to say, it’s been a controversial battle between privacy and censorship. Many questions and concerns remain, which is precisely why Google is holding these “in-person public consultations”.
The schedule is as follows:
September 9 in Madrid, Spain
September 10 in Rome, Italy
September 25 in Paris, France
September 30 in Warsaw, Poland
October 14 in Berlin, Germany
October 16 in London, UK
November 4 in Brussels, Belgium
“The Council welcomes position papers, research, and surveys in addition to other comments,” says Betsy Masiello, Google Secretariat to the Council. “We accept submissions in any official EU language. Though the Council will review comments on a rolling basis throughout the fall, it may not be possible to invite authors who submit after August 11 to present evidence at the public consultations.”
There’s a form here, for those who wish to voice their concerns and be considered for presentation.
Last week, EU regulators held a meeting with the search engines about the subject, where Google was said to disclose that it had removed over 50% of URLs requested, rejected over 30%, and requested additional info in 15% of cases. It had received requests from 91,000 people to remove 328,000 URLs just through 07/18.
More on Google’s Advisory Council here.
Image via Google