On Its Own, Europe Backs Web Privacy Fights

Spain’s government is now championing the “right to be forgotten” on the Web. It has ordered Google to stop indexing information about 90 citizens who filed formal complaints with its Data Protection Agency.

The case is now in court and being watched closely across Europe for how it might affect the control citizens will have over information they posted, or which was posted about them, on the Web. Whatever the ruling in the Spanish case, the European Union is also expected to weigh in with new “right to be forgotten” regulations this fall. Viviane Reding, the European Union’s justice commissioner, has offered few details of what she has in mind. But she has made clear she is determined to give privacy watchdogs greater power. “I cannot accept that individuals have no say over their data once it has been launched into cyberspace,” she said last month. She said she had heard the argument that more control was impossible, and that Europeans should “get over it.” But, Ms. Reding said, “I don't agree.” On this issue, experts say, Europe and the United States have largely parted company.