By: Jack Dorsey

A well-known adage about the internet is that once something is put online, it lives there forever. From your favorite celebrity’s regrettable social media posts, data you give to a website, to outdated news stories, the internet has been a place where information is permanently inscribed. But, what if there were measures in place that allowed our digital footprints to be erased? Today, a hyper accurate data profile is not just created from your online activity, but also from the physical spaces you occupy. In the physical realm, data is aggregated via your smart doorbell, coffee machine, car, and phone. These devices by themselves, or in conjunction with other devices, are tracking when you wake up, leave the house, and when you return home. Meanwhile in the digital realm, your browsing history, app usage, and social media activity construct a parallel version of you, one that reflects your preferences, routines, relationships, and beliefs. Together, both of these data streams have created profiles of the average person that may be more comprehensive than the identities we present in real life. These profiles may infer personal characteristics or behaviors not consciously known to the individual, based on predictive analytics, through which various entities can profit off of as data becomes more valuable. 

The European Union’s Stance on the Right to be Forgotten

In the European Union, the idea of the “Right to be Forgotten” became popular after the prominent, Google Inc. v. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD), decision in 2014. The European Court of Justice held that under this concept, E.U. citizens have a right to remove or delete their personal information from search results, as well as from public record databases. In 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) codified a similar concept of “Right to be Forgotten” through Article 17, explicitly granting individuals the right to request removal of personal data and information from data brokers, websites, and search engine providers. Individuals could request erasure of their personal data when their consent was withdrawn, processing of their data was unlawful, or when that data was no longer necessary. 

The United States’s Stance on the Right to be Forgotten

Unlike the E.U. the United States does not have a federal law in place ensuring a citizen’s online privacy and right to remove their data. At the state level, privacy laws are extremely limited. California has passed SB 568 also known as the “Eraser Law”, which grants minors the right to remove things that they themselves have posted online. However, this law does not ensure actual deletion of that post from the company’s servers, nor does it enable a minor to permanently delete any of their other data that company has collected. 

One reason for the lack of privacy laws in the United States is the First Amendment, which makes passing laws allowing for the unpublishing of data or censoring certain search results on the internet challenging as it prevents the government from controlling speech or expression. Despite this, a 2019 survey of American citizens revealed that approximately 74% believe it is more important to keep personal information from being searchable online than to preserve data indefinitely.

The continued dominance of large data conglomerates like Google, Meta and Amazon, and data brokers like Experian shows that there is really no limit to the amount of data that can be collected about an individual. Moreover, as companies like Amazon move into non-traditional spaces in our lives like healthcare, the amount of data available will only increase. This data can be used in all sorts of ways from increasing your medical insurance premiums, profiling you for targeted advertising, or deciding your eligibility for loans. 

Federal Legislation is Needed

Considering the risks of unfettered collection and use of our data, Americans need a law similar to that of the European Union. Federal legislation should be enacted that gives U.S citizens a clear right to remove their personal data from search engines and online services. While concerns about freedom of information are warranted, careful legislation can balance these concerns by limiting removal to private individuals and to information that has no public benefit. A federal “Right to be Forgotten” law would reaffirm the constitutional promise that power ultimately resides with the people restoring individual autonomy and privacy in an era where personal data is simply monetized and treated as a resource to be extracted.

#RightobeForgotten #DataPrivacy #DigitalRights #WJLTA