Google opens path in Europe for being 'forgotten'

Google began late Thursday letting people in Europe formally request to be "forgotten" by the world's leading Internet search service.
      
The move came just weeks after the European Court of Justice ruled that individuals have the right to have links to information about them deleted from searches under certain circumstances, such as it being outdated or inaccurate.
      
To comply with the recent European court ruling, Google launched a webform available for Europeans to request the removal of results from the search engine.
      
"The court's ruling requires Google to make difficult judgments about an individual's right to be forgotten and the public's right to know," a Google spokesman said in a statement emailed to AFP.
      
Google is creating an advisory committee to help strike a balance between freedom of information and people's rights when it comes to not being haunted by untruths or acts from the past on the Internet.
     
The group includes former Google chief Eric Schmidt, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Oxford Internet Institute ethics professor Luciano Floridi, Leuven University law school director Peggy Valcke, former Spanish data protection agency director Jose Luis Pinar and UN envoy on freedom of expression Frank La Rue.
      
"I'm delighted to join the international advisory committee established by Google to evaluate the ethical and legal challenges posed by the Internet," Floridi said in a written statement.
      
"It is an exciting initiative which will probably require some hard and rather philosophical thinking."                       
A web form posted on a Google support page asked...