Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Implementing a European, not global, right to be forgotten
Thursday, July 30, 2015
In a landmark ruling in May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) established a "right to be forgotten", or more accurately, a “right to delist”, allowing Europeans to ask search engines to delist certain links from results they show based on searches for that person’s name. We moved rapidly to comply with the ruling from the Court. Within weeks we made it possible for people to submit removal requests, and soon after that began delisting search results.
It's now just over a year later and we’ve
evaluated and processed
more than a quarter of a million requests to delist links to more than one million individual web pages. Whenever a request meets the criteria set by the Court for removal (which are that the information can be deemed
inadequate, irrelevant, no longer relevant
or
excessive
, and not in the public interest) we delist it from search results for that individual’s name from all European versions of Google Search.
However, earlier this summer, France’s data protection regulator, the CNIL, sent us a
formal notice
ordering us to delist links not just from all European versions of Search but also from all versions
globally
. That means a removal request by an individual in France, if approved, would not only be removed from google.fr and other European versions of Google Search, but from all versions of Google Search around the world.
This is a troubling development that risks serious chilling effects on the web.
While the right to be forgotten may now be the law in Europe, it is not the law globally. Moreover, there are innumerable examples around the world where content that is declared illegal under the laws of one country, would be deemed legal in others: Thailand criminalizes some speech that is critical of its King, Turkey criminalizes some speech that is critical of Ataturk, and Russia outlaws some speech that is deemed to be “gay propaganda."
If the CNIL’s proposed approach were to be embraced as the standard for Internet regulation, we would find ourselves in a race to the bottom. In the end, the Internet would only be as free as the world’s least free place.
We believe that no one country should have the authority to control what content someone in a second country can access. We also believe this order is disproportionate and unnecessary, given that the overwhelming majority of French internet users—currently around 97%—access a European version of Google’s search engine like google.fr, rather than Google.com or any other version of Google.
As a matter of principle, therefore, we respectfully disagree with the CNIL’s assertion of global authority on this issue and we have asked the CNIL to withdraw its Formal Notice.
We have worked hard to strike the right balance in our implementation of the European Court’s ruling and have maintained a collaborative dialogue with the CNIL and other data protection authorities, who agree with our decisions in the majority of cases referred to them. We are committed to continuing to work with regulators in this open and transparent way.
Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel
Forget Middle Earth—Central and Eastern Europe's salt mines, ice caves, mountains and castles are now on Street View
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Throughout history, Europe has been a hotbed of culture, imagination and natural beauty. At Google we’re keen to share these elements with the world through our maps, so over recent months we’ve been taking all manner of
Street View
technologies—Trekkers, Trolleys and tripods—to capture some incredible places across the continent, focusing this time on Central and Eastern Europe. Here are a few highlights for you to explore:
Hungary
Floating down the
Danube
river in summertime is a wonderful thing. But now you can also check out some of Hungary’s hidden gems in Google Maps. Take a look inside the
National Theatre of Pécs
and explore the beautiful
Basilica of Eger
, the second largest church in the country. In the capital, Budapest, you can walk among the trees and rose bushes in the little-known but spectacular
botanical garden
near the centre of town, or even
climb a hill
to get away from it all.
The magnificent National Theatre of Pec, Hungary
Czech Republic
If you’re lucky enough to have been to Prague, you may have seen the fairytale sight of
Prague Castle
from the medieval
Charles Bridge
. They’re too good to miss, so we added these sites and almost 30 others in Czech Republic to Street View including the
gardens of the Prague Castle
,
Prague’s historic center
, interiors of castles such as
Cesky Krumlov
and
Spilberk
, and beauty spots like
Ceske Svycarsko
and
Krkonose National Park
.
The interior of the Cesky Krumlov Castle, Czech Republic
Slovakia
In Slovakia, we’ve just released images of heritage sites like this
wooden protestant church in Kezmarok
and national parks like
Velka Fatra
and
Pieniny
. To get a feel for the history of the country, why not check out
Branc Castle
or
Draskovic Castle
in Cachtice? From the high turrets and battlements of the castles, you can then take a trip below ground and visit
Dobsinska Ice Cave
and
Ochtinska Aragonite Cave
which we added last year.
The church in Kezmarok
Romania
And finally, sink 100 meters deep into one of the most breathtaking places beneath the earth: the
Turda Salt Mine
, in Cluj County, Romania. Tourists around the world can take a tour of the mine—which is more than 200 years old—with our high-resolution imagery, from the comfort of their homes.
Turda Salt Mine, Romania
We hope you enjoy discovering some of the delights of Europe as much as we did.
Posted by Magdalena Filak, Street View team
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