BBC Posts Links Removed By Google over EU's "Right to be Forgotten"

Forum Moderators: goodroi

Message Too Old, No Replies

BBC Posts Links Removed By Google over EU's "Right to be Forgotten"

engine

5:31 pm on Jun 26, 2015 (gmt 0)

The BBC has decided to list the pages removed by Google over the EU's "right to be forgotten."

Interesting!
I wonder if the list will be indexed by Google and the process will start all over again.

The BBC has decided to make clear to licence fee payers which pages have been removed from Google's search results by publishing this list of links. Each month, we'll republish this list with new removals added at the top.

We are doing this primarily as a contribution to public policy. We think it is important that those with an interest in the “right to be forgotten” can ascertain which articles have been affected by the ruling. We hope it will contribute to the debate about this issue. We also think the integrity of the BBC's online archive is important and, although the pages concerned remain published on BBC Online, removal from Google searches makes parts of that archive harder to find. BBC Posts Links Removed By Google over EU's "Right to be Forgotten" [bbc.co.uk]

lucy24

6:25 pm on Jun 26, 2015 (gmt 0)

I wonder if the list will be indexed by Google

Quick detour to google dot com says yes indeed, although --stop me if you've heard this one-- half a dozen sites quoting the exact text I randomly searched for come out ahead of the bbc itself. Same at google dot co dot uk -- but my computer is in the US, so they may be feeding me different results.

Er.... that long list of URLs appended to the blog entry is the actual List, right?

Samizdata

7:07 pm on Jun 26, 2015 (gmt 0)

An admirable stance from the BBC. But...

Since a European Court of Justice ruling last year, individuals have the right to request that search engines remove certain web pages from their search results.

Incorrect - the pages are still available in the SERPs if a personal name is not used in the search query.

The BBC has decided to make clear to licence fee payers which pages have been removed from Google's search results by publishing this list of links.

What about links from Bing and others?

it is worth noting that we are not told who has requested the delisting

It is also worth noting that publishers have no right of appeal.

...

engine

10:43 am on Jun 29, 2015 (gmt 0)

What about links from Bing and others?

One would assume that the party wanting removal would also complete Bing's request for the "right to be forgotten", but they may not make a submission to Bing. It's up to the BBC what it chooses to report on, and I suspect that the vast majority of removal requests are either, Google in the first instance, or for only Google, primarily because of Google's search dominance in Europe.

Samizdata

1:14 pm on Jun 29, 2015 (gmt 0)

It's up to the BBC what it chooses to report on

If I were a "licence fee payer" I might think otherwise.

I would prefer that all cases were noted, not just those involving one particular search engine.

Perpetuating the idea that only one search engine matters is unworthy of the corporation.

...

lucy24

6:14 pm on Jun 29, 2015 (gmt 0)

Incidentally ... the BBC, being the BBC, takes it for granted that everyone knows what a "license fee payer" is. I don't; in fact I have no idea what they're talking about. I can only think of a TV license-- but that's for everything, isn't it? There's not a BBC license and an ITV license and, and, and so on ... or did they change that too when I wasn't looking? *

* I have only just learned that, as of 1999, being a peer and being in the House of Lords are no longer the same thing. Oops.

tangor

6:33 pm on Jun 29, 2015 (gmt 0)

Unfortunately, the BBC list is incomplete. It only lists THEIR urls. :) So much for full reporting of GOOGLE URLS blocked!

Samizdata

7:33 pm on Jun 29, 2015 (gmt 0)

what a "license fee payer" is

1. Any household or other premises in UK that receives television transmissions from any source in real-time.

2. A person in UK who contributes financially towards the BBC website but who - unlike people outside Europe - may be fed censored results from that website (albeit under duress) by the local branch of a commercial search engine.

...

Samizdata

4:39 pm on Jul 1, 2015 (gmt 0)

An article castigating the BBC's stance: [theguardian.com...]

The so-called "right to be forgotten" only applies to commercial search engines at the moment - with media publishers specifically exempted - but I suspect that there will be demands for its reach to be extended before too long.

Most of the comments below the article are predictably ill-informed and are probably best ignored.

...

engine

4:59 pm on Jul 1, 2015 (gmt 0)

It's a badly thought out law that is also unworkable, as is being proven through the FUD.
Example, the BBC report the facts, someone submits a "right to be forgotten" request to Google, and the request is upheld by Google, then the link to the BBC story is removed from Europe's view eyes in Google search.

Remember, if people don't submit a "right to be forgotten" request to Bing, currently, that's their problem, imho. Again, as i said, it's badly implemented.