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Re: [LUG] EU ruling on Google

 

On Thu, May 15, 2014 at 10:58:00AM +0100, Philip Hudson wrote:
> On 15 May 2014 10:49, Tom <madtom1999@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > I dont think it invades peoples privacy in the sense the information is
> > already in the public domain - the info will be in publicly available papers
> > and in many cases an online search of the court records will show he was
> > bankrupt. This information is not incorrect.
> 
> *Was* bankrupt. *Had been*. The point is that it was the first or only
> information on the results page, which was misleading and damaging,
> and crucially that Google failed to provide any way to correct it or
> improve it. AFAIUI the complainant wasn't demanding removal, just
> deprioritizing, and that seems to me not just fair but essential.

The problem is - and this is why I'm on balance not happy with the
ruling - that what should be prioritised is rather subjective. Perhaps
it is important that this person had been declared bankrupt once. If you
want to hire him as a financial manager, this might be worth knowing.

(I'm not saying I would find this information important to know, even in
such a case.)

But I agree with you (and thus disagree with Tom) that indexing and
re-ordering information, even if it is information that is in the public
domain, can invade someone's privacy.

Martijn.

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