Abstract
George Brock’s The Right to be Forgotten: Privacy and the Media in the Digital Age offers a broad perspective on the current issue of dominance of the right to privacy over the right to free speech. Brock insists on the nexed to grasp knowledge of both ‘rights’ and to strike a balance between them. The book has a logically patterned content. The nine chapters can be clubbed under the following themes: the rise and fall of dependency on search engines, the fuller account of the Google Spain judgement, the deceptive nature of the right, the alternative approaches and the requirements for a balanced future.
The data protection law had its origins in Europe, and later, it was narrowed down and repackaged as the ‘right to be forgotten’ or the cult of de-indexing, on the claim that search engines misused the personal data of citizens. Media users in Europe found that the search engines were increasingly no longer benevolent. The right to be forgotten attained its global recognition with the Google Spain judgement by the European Union Court where it stated that the complainant’s rights were superior to both the ‘economic interest’ of the search engine and the ‘informational interest’ of the general public. Thus, this right came to be interpreted as a right to delete information about oneself – published by someone else – even when it is true. It contradicted Data Protection Law which was never intended to come into collision with the public interest. Moreover, this right underwent enormous changes in many European countries and other nations, as per their requirements. Consequently, ‘the right to be forgotten’ was rebranded as the General Data Protection Regulation, which clearly states that protection of personal privacy outranks freedom of expression or knowledge. On the other hand, America, in line with the First Amendment supports the right to free expression and exhorts that turning the high-tech giants into highly regulated corporations will slow the rate of innovation. The author showcases these two extremes as only tending towards censorship and information anarchy, respectively. However, the need for the law to balance the rights of four parties has been forgotten. The four parties include the individual who is the subject of the material, the person who ‘published’ it, the intermediary who provides the platform or the link for it and the public who may have an interest in knowing what it reveals.
The author has succeeded in stating the facts on either side and predicts a gradual and serious harm to journalism and other forms of media communication in the near future. His valuable contribution in presenting the bird’s-eye view of the whole scenario with historical details is commendable. In the end, it is evident that the author envisions the future of information and communication to be balanced with privacy.
Brock’s work will serve as an eye opener for all media users of the emerging cult of de-indexing and its long-term effects on media and communication.