Google receives fresh takedown requests after court rulingMay 16, 2014 - 11:37 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Google has received fresh takedown requests after a European court ruled that an individual could force it to remove "irrelevant and outdated" search results, BBC News reported. An ex-politician seeking re-election has asked to have links to an article about his behavior in office removed. A man convicted of possessing child abuse images has requested links to pages about his conviction to be wiped. And a doctor wants negative reviews from patients removed from the results. Google itself has not commented on the so-called right-to-be-forgotten ruling since it described the European Court of Justice judgment as being "disappointing". Nor has it released any figures about the number of takedown requests received since Tuesday, May 13. The original case was brought by a Spanish man who complained that an auction notice of his repossessed home on Google's search results had infringed his privacy. The ruling surprised many because it contradicted the advice of the European Union's advocate general who said last year that search engines were not obliged to honor such requests. EU Commissioner Viviane Reding described the decision as "a clear victory for the protection of personal data of Europeans" but others are concerned about the consequences that it will have for free speech. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has criticized the ruling, calling it "astonishing" while free speech advocates at The Index on Censorship said the court's ruling "should send chills down the spine of everyone in the European Union who believes in the crucial importance of free expression and freedom of information". "The court has said that an individual's desires outweigh society's interest in the complete facts around incidents," it added. Marc Dautlich, a lawyer at Pinsent Masons, said that search engines might find the new rules hard to implement. "If they get an appreciable volume of requests what are they going to do? Set up an entire industry sifting through the paperwork?" he asked. "I can't say what they will do but if I was them I would say no and tell the individual to contact the Information Commissioner's Office." Although the judgment refers specifically to search engines and states that only the links to information, rather than the information itself, be removed from the net, some news organizations have seen a rise in the number of people asking to have articles removed since the ruling. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Armenia, Russia discuss life extension of Metsamor nuclear plant Issues regarding the extension of life of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant were discussed in Yerevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |