Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Our thoughts on the right to be forgotten
Thursday, February 16, 2012
One of the most talked about concepts in the European Commission’s new
Data Protection Regulation proposal
is the right to be forgotten. It is, at least in part, a continuation of the rights of access and objection that web users were granted in the 1995 Data Protection Directive. It also goes further, including other concepts that we have already embedded in our
privacy principles and practices
like improved transparency, providing clear information to people and giving them fine-grained privacy choices - including the ability to remove data they uploaded to our services.
Today, more and more people are entrusting their data to online hosting platforms and using social networks and search engines to find information on the Web - and there are no signs of web usage slowing. So it’s vitally important that both those who provide online services and those who use them have a clear understanding of how a concept such as the right to be forgotten might apply.
For providers of online services, we think there are some important distinctions that need to be made between services that host content created by people (such as Facebook and YouTube) and services that point people to content that exists elsewhere (for example, search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo!).
Hosting Platforms:
Users’ Rights
: At the core of the right to be forgotten is the idea that a person using a hosting platform should have full control over, including the ability to delete, data he or she published intentionally. That means that a user should be able to delete an individual post, photo or video that he or she stored with the hosting platform. The user should also be able to delete his or her entire account with a given hosting platform, thereby deleting all the materials he or she had published and which was stored in that account.
Hosting Platforms’ Obligations
: Hosting platforms, for their part, should respect deletion requests made by a user regarding content placed there by that user, and carry them out in a timely way. That does not necessarily mean that deletion should be instantaneous; there are practical reasons why some delay should be permitted, for example to prevent the abusive deletion of content when an account has been compromised. Other limits, including legal or contractual obligations, may also legitimately delay deletion in certain circumstances.
Understanding the practical limits on what hosting platforms can do
: There are practical and legal limits to what can be expected of hosting platforms.
First, it is possible for any material published online to be copied and re-published elsewhere. A hosting platform can and should delete copies of material that they store on behalf of a user upon his or her request, but it cannot be expected to maintain control over other copies of the material published elsewhere online, as these are outside of the control of the hosting platform.
Second, it is important that hosting platforms not be obliged to delete materials when doing so would be likely to undermine the security of the service or allow for fraud.
Third, hosting platforms cannot be expected to delete materials created collaboratively at the unilateral request of a single contributor. Where a clear ownership of a collaborative document has been assigned, responsibility for deletion should lie with that owner. In cases where ownership of a collaborative document is not clear - as in the case of wikis or usenet posts - the questions are more complex, and a clear solution is not currently obvious.
Fourth, in the same way postal services are not expected to monitor what is in the letters they carry, Internet hosting platforms should not be expected to exercise control over materials published by third parties. Fundamental responsibility for information available online must rest with the party that put that particular copy online, rather than with the hosting platform. This is consistent with the premise of existing European law, namely, the eCommerce Directive.
Search engines:
Search engines serve an important function online, and the right to be forgotten should not interfere with their ability to point consumers to information published elsewhere.
For their part, search engines should respect the standard ways in which websites instruct search engines whether to crawl and index particular pages, such as header meta tags and robots.txt files
When, in the course of crawling the web, a search engine discovers that a page or site is no longer available online, it should update its search index to reflect these changes in a timely way.
Search engines should also provide a means for webmasters to accelerate removal of their site from search results. As with hosting platforms, the fundamental responsibility for information available online must rest with the publisher of that information, rather than with a search engine or other similar intermediary.
Ultimately, responsibility for deleting content published online should lie with the person or entity who published it. Host providers store this information on behalf of the content provider and so have no original right to delete the data. Similarly, search engines index any publicly available information to make it searchable. They too have no direct relationship with the original content.
We’re supportive of the principles behind the right to be forgotten - and believe that it’s possible to implement this concept in a way that not only enhances privacy online, but also fosters free expression for all.
Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel
Helping a Greek tourism revival
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Amid Greece’s gloom and doom, one sector is thriving - tourism. Both tourist receipts and the number of visitors rose by about 10 percent last year, even as the country’s overall economy shrank by more than five percent. Tourism now accounts for one in five jobs and 16 percent of the entire Greek economy, and the Internet is playing a key role in its success, without relying on scarce government funds.
Many moves are responsible for the tourist bright spot. Taxes on ferry tickets and hotel rooms have been slashed. Low cost airlines are adding flights to the country and visa restrictions have been simplified for non-EU citizens from Turkey, China and India. Most of these rising number of visitors are using the Internet to book their flights and accommodations: the Tourist Board’s VisitGreece.gr webside attracted 2.2 million visitors last year, up from a mere 200,000 in 2009.
At the first ever Google Travel Forum in Greece, more than 2000 visitors showed up to hear the Tourism Minister, Pavlos Yeroulanos, describe the government’s
“strategic shift
towards online marketing and social media to grow tourism.” The Forum showcased how the Internet allows the smallest b&b on the most idyllic Greek island to reach potential visitors anywhere in the world, and at the same time, allows the country’s largest travel operators to compete effectively against multinationals.
The Forum’s closing session featured a one on one discussion between the Greek Tourism Minister Yeroulanos, and the Google Country Manager Stefanos Loukakos, The Minister concluded by tweeting how “internet and social media can help SMEs.” We couldn’t agree more - and will continue helping the Greek tourism industry and the Greek economy as a whole grow its way out of its current crisis.
Posted by Dionisis Kolokotsas, Public Policy manager Greece
European Commission clears Motorola deal
Monday, February 13, 2012
Cross-posted on the
Official Google Blog
We’re happy that today the European Commission
approved
our proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which we
announced
in August. This is an important milestone in the approval process and it moves us closer to closing the deal. We are now just waiting for decisions from a few other jurisdictions before we can close this transaction.
As we outlined in August, the combination of Google and Motorola Mobility will help supercharge Android. It will also enhance competition and offer consumers faster innovation, greater choice and wonderful user experiences.
Posted by Don Harrison, Vice President and Deputy Counsel
Paris names Google its Foreign Investor of the Year
Monday, February 13, 2012
Over the past few years, we have made extensive investments in France, recognizing how the country’s Internet economy is booming. Our Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt recently
inaugurated
, in the presence of President Nicolas Sarkozy, a new 10,000-square meter office in a refurbished
19th century Second Empire building
near the St. Lazare Train Station.
In recognition of these moves, the
Greater Paris Investment Agency
this month awarded Google its prize of the international investor of the year. Valérie Pécresse, Minister for the Budget, Public Accounts and State Reform presented the prize to Susan Pointer, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, Southern & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Our efforts in France go far beyond new buildings. We’re encouraging French start-ups by creating a
Startup Café
, an online platform offering information and tools required by entrepreneurs to launch a business. We’re investing in French startups, creating a platform for content and tools.expanding our engineering presence to take advantage of France’s strong engineering talent pool and are making significant academic investments, including a partnership with the French national research center
CNRS
and the creation of a
Google Chair at HEC
.
The new Paris headquarters houses a cultural institute which aims to leverage digital technologies to expand access to cultural treasures around the world. Last year, the number of Googlers in France has doubled to nearly 400 employees, and we are continuing to hire. In the future, more and more products will Google "made in France"!
All of this is just the beginning of what we are sure will be a long love affair with France and its capital.
Posted by Elisabeth Bargès, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Google France
Working with Le Monde to aid Tunisian journalism
Friday, February 10, 2012
Update,
February 16
. Google France welcomed five of the six Tunisian journalists at its offices for a lunch to hear about their experiences in Paris and to discuss progress of freedom of expression in their homeland.
In a single, magnificent moment, journalists in Tunisia liberated themselves from the shackles of censorship. They no longer were forced to regurgitate government propaganda and finally could write what they wanted. Instead, they were confronted with the challenges of freedom.
We are teaming up with the prestigious French newspaper
Le Monde
to help tackle this crucial challenge. Six Tunisian journalists are coming to Paris to work for three months in the Le Monde newsroom. As the
paper explained
, the journalists will help cover daily news and the upcoming French Presidential election. Our hope is that they then will return home with new skills that will serve to construct a new, free but responsible professional press in Tunisia.
The six winners of the Google internship are:
Radhouane Somai, a political reporter for the Business News website.
Hajer Ben Arjroudi, an an investigative reporter for the Express FM radio station.
Thameur Mekki contributes to three online webzines, specializing in digital culture.
Zbiss Hanene, the editor of the culture section for Realities magazine.
Hajer Jeridi, the editor-in-chief of the www.gnet.tn news site.
Nacer Talel, a freelance photographer
At Google, we are aware of the need to work with publishers to smooth the transition not only from oppression to freedom, but from analogue to digital distribution. We are sponsoring a series of digital journalism prizes with
Institut de Sciences Politiques
, the
International Press Institute
in Vienna and the
Global Editors Network
in Paris. We also are the proud backer of Reporters Without Borders’ annual
Netizen of the Year
award. In addition, we have come up with a series of products such as
Adsense
to split online ad revenues with publishers.
The collaboration with Le Monde marks a significant step forward in our engagement. We are working hard to support free elections in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East, building a series of new Internet tools that allow politicians to reach voters and voters to have their voice heard by politicians.
A special thanks goes out to Le Monde’s
Sylvie Kauffmann
for this project. Sylvie covered Central Europe for Le Monde when it the communist imposed countries of the Soviet empire freed themselves. Sylvie continued to become the Le Monde’s first female editor-in-chief. She travelled to Tunis and personally interviewed and chose all the candidates. For her, and for Le Monde, strong journalism represents a key building block for free societies.
Posted by William Echikson, External Relations, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Searching for creative young minds
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Are you between 18 and 24 years old and have done something to make an impact in the world? Do you fancy the opportunity to come to the UK and meet some of the great minds of our time?
If so, apply by March 19 to Google's youth challenge,
Zeitgeist Young Minds
, by uploading a short video telling your story, what matters to you and how you’re making a positive impact on your world. We want to find the most exceptional and inspiring young people who are helping others through science, the arts, education, leadership or innovation.
Winners will meet the leaders attending
2012 Zeitgeist
. Previous Zeitgeist speakers have included Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
, The Black Eyed Peas’
will.I.am
, Burberry CEO
Angela Ahrendts
, and Google CEO
Larry Page
.
The inaugural ‘Young Minds’ competition rewarded a series of pathbreakers, ranging from a student who launched free hip-hop dance classes for high-risk youth to a South African AIDS activist to a student who founded an organization offering IT education. A full list of last year's winning projects are found
here
.
Events agency
Livity
is managing the contest and will pick the winners. Zeitgeist Young Minds is open to all young people ages 18-24 who are residents of South Africa, Algeria, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Egypt, Spain, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Russia , Sweden, Tunisia, and Yemen.
Posted by Elizabeth Dupuy, Event Manager, External Relations
Supporting safety online
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Telefono Azzurro
, one of Italy’s main child protection NGOs, does amazing work on behalf of missing and sexually exploited children and their families. Last year, we donated a
Google Search Appliance
- essentially the Google ‘search engine in a box’ - to improve information retrieval on their internal network and make it easier to search on their public website.
Today, on
Safer Internet Day 2012
, we’re happy to announce that this collaboration is expanding. Telefono Azzuro will share its Search Appliance with all of the members of
Missing Children Europe
(MCE), the federation of national NGOs responsible for the
European 116.000 phone hotline
, who will use Google's search technology on their public websites. Eventually, the Search Appliance will also be linked to MCE’s interconnected
European database
of missing children (currently under construction), enabling
each member NGO
to better organise its own case files and conduct secure searches on its internal network.
This is just one example of how seriously we take the challenge of increasing safety on the web, but on Safer Internet Day, we’re also involved in a whole host of initiatives all over Europe, including:
Digital literacy education / workshops
Italy
: we’re running online safety workshops with Telefono Azzurro /
Sicuri in Rete
and with the Italian
Postal and Communications Police
(at more than 100 schools); and we’re distributing online safety information to parents together with the Italian
Association of Paediatricians
.
Portugal
: we’re launching the
Google Family Safety Center
at an event chaired by the President of National Commission for Support for Children.
Russia
: We’re partnering with
Net Literacy
to engage over 200 Russian journalism students in digital literacy campaigning in schools and communities
Events
UK
: we’re hosting online safety events with
CEOP
, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, and
Raceonline
; we’re also participating in workshops organised by the UK
Safer Internet Centre
.
Russia
: we’re working with the
Russia Safe Internet Centre
and
Russian Association of Electronic Communications
to run a series of international expert panels at the Safer Internet Forum.
Germany
: Wieland Holfelder, Google Engineering Director, is keynoting a session on the platform for safe internet use at the Safer Internet Event in Germany, organized by
Bitkom
and the Ministry of Consumer Protection (
BMELV
).
Research
UK
: we're launching, together with
YAW-CRC
, new research funded by Google into how parents can
keep their families safe online
, and
become more digitally literate themselves
.
Technology
France
: we’re supporting the work of
e-Enfance.org
on a new Google Chrome browser extension called
NetEcoute
, which will make it easy for youngsters to start an online discussion with a helpline counselor.
These initiatives are part of our global outreach on Safer Internet Day - but we hope that each of them will - in their own way - be a step forward for online safety education.
Posted by Laura Bononcini, Senior Policy Analyst, Google
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