Tech

EU court tells Google: People have right to be un-Googleable

Ever wish you could Ungoogle yourself? Here’s hope that it might happen.

The highest court in the European Union has ruled that individuals can ask Google to remove links to news articles, legal judgments and other information that comes up during a name search.

The ruling applies only to links in search results — not the original article or offending material, WSJ.com reported.

“If, following a search made on the basis of a person’s name, the list of results displays a link to a Web page which contains information on the person in question, that data subject may approach the operator directly,” to ask for the material to be removed, the court said.

Google called the ruling, which centers on the so-called right to be forgotten, disappointing and said it needed time to figure out the repercussions, the paper said.

The decision has serious implications for Google and other search engines that operate in Europe as they grapple with how to set up a system to deal with such requests.

Search-engine operators don’t have to comply with every request, but if they don’t, individuals can ask their national data-protection authorities to intervene and order the links be deleted, WSJ reported.

The decision stems from a case involving a Spanish man who wanted links to stories about his debts removed from Google’s search engine results.