‘Right to be forgotten’ threatens free speech

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Last year the European Union’s highest court ruled that European citizens have a “right to be forgotten” when it comes to search links to unfavorable Internet posts that are harmful and irrelevant. The court ruled in favor of a Spanish citizen who complained that Google’s links to an old notice about his house being repossessed violated his privacy rights because the issue was now irrelevant. The court ruled that search engines must have a mechanism to allow people to request the removal of links to negative stories, even if the stories themselves remained online. Full Article

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The word “manners” is a forgotten word. Manners are not taught or practice anymore.

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Interesting. The author writes, “….I also want to protect our precious First Amendment, which is the cornerstone of our democracy. ….. before we rush to suppress any form of speech, we must consider the broader ramifications and precedents and — if we must err — we should err on the side of free speech.”

So would this author would, therefore, oppose SB448 because of it chilling effect on the free speech of Registered Citizens? I would bet that, as CEO of ConnectSafely.org, he probably supports SB448. RCs have no rights, right?

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I am reminded of something Andrew P Napolitano said on a recent Daily Show to the effect that individuals have a right to free speech, but governments do not. One wonders if he meant that to apply to other social constructs, like corporations, Google included?
Point is, if government could not provide a readily available database in the form of the public registry, the extortion sites would be deprived of an easy and profitable way to ruin the lives of registrants and people mistaken for registrants.

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Any lawyer (including Janice) will tell you that a “right” is a privilege granted to you by a higher authority. Unless you stick the word “inalienable” in front of it, your rights are limited and subject to change at any time.

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Let this be a reminder of how important it is to answer the call when a posting asks us to write letters, make phone calls and become pro-active in challenging the actions of bullies or haters. While we can rightfully complain, it is better that we learn how to defend ourselves and numbers is a good start. The truth is on our side, the facts expose the bullies and the haters, but we must stand up and help. Being a warrior is a good feeling.

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