"The European Union has decreed that sites must remove links to 'outdated' information."

[Renew Deal]

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To get you up to speed: The European high court recently ruled that individuals have the right to ask search engines to remove links to what is deemed "outdated, false, or irrelevant" information about them. The wording in the actual bill is incredibly confusing, a fantastic example of brain draining legalese. Fortunately, there was an official press release that was promised to be much more direct. I checked that out and, yeah, they lied.

If I read it right (and if I didn't, please correct me in comments so I can, in turn, correct it next week -- Wow! What a concept!), this nut-bar ruling is based on a 2010 case where a hapless Spaniard filed a complaint in Spanish court against a site that had left information about it him online even though that information was wrong and long outdated. So he filed against the site (logical) and against Google for linking to it (totally illogical). In typically inscrutable lawyer logic, the court ruled that publishing the information was legal, so the site got off unscathed, but Google's linking to it was against the rules, so they were directed to remove any related search links. Apparently linking to "lawfully published" content is unlawful in Spain.

With the European high court's decision, this Spanish debacle is now going to be applied to every country in the European Union. How exactly do these pinheads think this is going to work? This opens the door to an unimaginable crap-geyser of requests from anyone who doesn't like what's being said about them online.

Google isn't the only organization that'll affected by this either. The law only refers to "processors" of linkable results, so it can pretty much apply to anyone with a search box and linkable data to anything personal (corporate or individual). Like, say, every social media site in existence. The Zuck is probably so mad he's jumping up and down on his Hot Wheels collection.
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http://www.infoworld.com/t/cringely/you-have-the-right-remain-moronic-242692

I wonder if this affects DU. There's lots of information here going back to 2001.

[Leme]

1. my opinion

Great. I wish entire internet reset itself every few years on personal data.