Is the 'right to be forgotten' the end of Googling as we know it?
May 19, 2014
[Commentary] Given the gravity that Google results can have on a person's life, perhaps the answer is to give everyone control of the first few pages, as long as it's clearly labeled. That sounds fine if it makes people feel better. But if the right to be forgotten is established in the US, thus trumping the right to know, I'm not sure where I'll turn. Yes, I can go to the library and courthouse, but I won't do that to find out a little more about a new neighbor. It wouldn't be Information Armageddon but Googling -- the liberating feeling that you can find out something quickly by typing in a few words in a search engine -- wouldn't be the same.
Is the 'right to be forgotten' the end of Googling as we know it?