Google received 12,000 search removal requests on first day

On Friday, Google put the online form in place where users can request to remove their information from the search engine, and should not come up with the search result. This initiative is in response to a recent judgment of the European Court of Justice, which includes the so-called “right to be forgotten” online. This means that Google and other search engines should remove the results links with irrelevant information, not relevant or no longer relevant. It also includes excessive links from the point of view of the purposes for which the personal data are treated.

Google CEO Larry Page announced that the company had already received more than 12,000 applications, equivalent to twenty requests per minute. The procedure launched by the Internet giant is complex. Google intends to evaluate each request individually, tried to find a balance between the right to privacy of the individual and the public’s right to know and distribute information. To do this, the company will consider whether the results reflect outdated data of the applicant and if information of public interest, for example, based on professional negligence, criminal convictions, public behavior of government officials or financial scams. Request to remove the data doesn’t mean that a criminal should fill the form to ask to remove everything about him from the internet.

The first step is to complete an online form. The company itself says that in the coming months they will work closely with data protection authorities and other entities. First, you have to select the country . Then you need to include your full name (name of the person who doesn’t want himself/herself to be come up with the search result), contact email address where the company will send a confirmation message. Then you must enter the associated links (the URL of each link) that needs to be withdrawn, explaining the reasons that why you think these URLs of search results are irrelevant, obsolete or inadequate. You must also submit a legible copy of the identity document (ID or passport).

So far, the authorities of the European Union seem satisfied with the initiative of Google, but Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Justice, stated that would have to study how the form works in practice. The legal channel for complaints data erasure begins with sending complaints directly to the venue finder in the relevant country. According to Spanish law, the deadline for responding to complaints in case the right of the cancellation of personal data is ten days. In this case, If the data controller do not reply within that time, citizens can complain to the Data Protection Agency, which will take appropriate action. All those who want to ask Google the removal of organic search results about their information can do so by filling out a form that can be found in this link: https://support.google.com/legal/contact/lr_eudpa?product=websearch.

Note: Make sure you are from one of the European countries, because when you go to select the country name, you won’t get it if you belong to a different continent.