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European court lawyer backs Google in data rights case

25 June 2013, 13:40 CET
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European court lawyer backs Google in data rights case

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(LUXEMBOURG) - A top European Court of Justice lawyer on Tuesday said that US Internet giant Google was not responsible for data carried by websites appearing on its search engine and that EU citizens had no "right to be forgotten" in the digital world.

The case revolves around a Spanish national who went to court because the person's personal details in a debt recovery operation continued to appear on the online version of a Spanish newspaper long after the legal dispute had been resolved.

Spain's data protection agency, the AEPD, had upheld the complaint against Google but the ECJ's advocate general Niilo Jaaskinen said that it could not in this case ask an Internet search engine to remove information from its listings.

The advocate general, whose opinion does not constitute a ruling, also said the European directive on data protection had no provision for a "right to be forgotten" on the Internet and that this could not therefore be invoked against Google.

"This is a good opinion for free expression," Bill Echkison, a spokesman for Google, said in a statement.

"We are glad to see it supports our long-held view that requiring search engines to suppress 'legitimate and legal information' would amount to censorship," he said.

The ECJ is expected to rule on the case at a later date.

European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding last year proposed that a "right to be forgotten" be included in EU legislation on data protection, which has been criticised for being too vague for citizens and too strict for businesses.

Opinion of the European Court of Justice Advocate General in the case C-131/12 - Google Spain and Google


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