Google Wins Rare Privacy Victory in Europe

Today in international tech news: Google gets a break from the European Court of Justice. Also: Hacking alert prompts website shutdowns in South Korea and North Korea; Samsung tries to hash out a deal with European regulators; and Chinese media claim a handful of U.S. companies, including Cisco and Apple, are spying on China.

Google cannot be forced to delete sensitive information from its search index, a key advisor to the European Court of Justice said.

The opinion, released by Niilo Jaaskinen, was prompted by a case in Spain claiming that Google should remove outdated financial details about an individual. That case was filed in 2009 by a Spanish man who complained about Google linking him to a report  detailing his debts. Because the report was 10 years old, he said, the links were no longer relevant.

It is a welcome ruling for Google, which has long drawn complaints from Europe over privacy. Recently, a German court ruled that Google’s auto-complete function can violate users’ privacy, while France has threatened to levy fines against Google for the way its privacy policies are structured.

The European Parliament is currently debating the so-called “right to be forgotten,” part of the Data Protection Regulation. The EU is planning to update the Data Protection directive — it was adopted back in 1995, when there were no Google searches — and the right to be forgotten has been discussed as a potential add-on.

—————————————————————————————————

Share on Social Networks >>>