Over in Europe, Google has agreed that users had the right to be forgotten, meaning that users could submit requests to Google to have any information on them that comes up in search results erased. Of course it should be pointed out that this only applies to Google’s search results, and that other search engines could potentially list those details.However with Google being the giant of search engines, we suppose it’s a start. While this is a service Google mainly offers in Europe, over in the Japan the Saitama District Court has ordered the company to scrub the records of a man’s arrest from three years ago. The man in question was arrested for molesting a girl under 18 and was subsequently fined 500,000 yen.
Reports on his arrest are still surfacing when users Google his name and address, which apparently has led to him having a hard time trying to start a new life and turning over a new leaf. According to the man’s lawyer, “He harbors remorse over the incident and is leading a new life. The search results prevent him from rehabilitating himself. Publicizing past criminal information with a person’s real name doesn’t serve the public’s needs, and is therefore illegal.”
This was agreed upon by the presiding judge who then ordered Google to remove the man’s records from their search results. Like we said this is a service that Google typically offers in Europe, although French privacy watchdog recently lambasted Google, claiming that all links should be removed on a global scale.
Filed in . Read more about Google, Japan, Legal and Privacy.