The Right to Privacy Is Global

Earlier this year, the top court in Europe ruled that Internet search engines such as Google must remove links to private information that should not be available online. The decision was hardly surprising. Google already removes links to private credit card and bank account information. The company also routinely removes links to information that is protected by copyright law.
At first, Google said it would be impossible to remove these links. Some critics of the decision even said that it “would break the Internet” if search engines were required to follow the law. But over the last several months, Google and other search companies have managed to comply with the requests and the Internet is still operating.

Still, Google is resisting the expectation that it will remove links across all domains in which it offers search. In other words, Google will honor a request from a citizen in France to remove links from the google.fr domain and a citizen in Germany to remove links from the google.de domain. But outside of those country-specific domains, Google will continue to make private information available to Internet users.
Google’s position on this issue makes little sense. The company could not reasonably claim to protect a U.S. citizen’s credit card details by removing links to the private information from only the google.us domain. Similarly, Google does not address the privacy problem elsewhere by only removing links from search provided for only one country.
Keep in mind also that it is entirely within Google’s control which information it chooses to link. We do not see, for example, links to salary information or medical information for Google employees available from Google search. And expecting companies to draw impractical lines – what about people with dual nationalities? – is not sensible.

The solution is simple: Google should remove all links to private information when requested to do so.
Some who object to the decision of the European court worry that this is a mandate for all Internet users to remove links to private information. But that is entirely wrong. The European court said only that commercial search engines, companies that profit from providing links to the content of others through the placement of advertising, carry the responsibility. Not only is there no similar obligation for Internet users, the court also made clear that news media organizations are specifically protected. And the obligation to remove applies only to the links posted by the search company, not to the underlying content.
Search engines provide a valuable service to Internet users. On that point there is no dispute. But that doesn’t mean they are above the law or ethical responsibilities. Simply because private information can be found on the Internet does not mean it should be made widely available. The European Court of Justice wisely decided that commercial search firms should remove links to private information when asked. That policy will only work if the search company removes the links across all domains for which it provides search.