Google loses landmark case over data privacy in Europe

Google has lost a landmark case over the limits of data privacy in Europe, leaving it obliged to remove personal information appearing on its search engine servers under certain circumstances.

The European Court of Justice decision is a big setback for the US group, which feared an unfavorable ruling would prompt a flurry of requests and suits demanding that allegedly harmful personal content be removed from its servers. At stake was whether search engines such as Google are simply hosting content, or actually “controllers” of personal data that are responsible for the results and information presented to users. The judges found that it is responsible for the material processed on its servers and said Google must respond to legitimate demands from individuals to delete certain private information that they judge to be harmful. If Google refuses their request, it would still be obliged to implement the order of a data protection authority or court. Exemptions would be possible for information relating to prominent individuals -- such as politicians -- deemed against the public interest to remove. The ECJ is the highest court, which means Google cannot appeal the ruling. These far-reaching findings appear to endorse the view that EU citizens already have a “right to be forgotten” on the internet -- a right the European Commission thought necessary to explicitly propose introducing in law.