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Google's hidden data reveals details of 'right to be forgotten' requests
The Internet is unforgiving. Web search engines like Google neatly index the most embarrassing moments, traumatic histories and criminal activities. In May last year, the European Court of Justice asked the web giant to remove website links that were no longer relevant to people's lives. The ruling recognized that archiving people's lives often took their personal moments out of context, creating "detailed but selective profiles". Since the sweeping decision did not exclude killers or even terrorists from the "right to be forgotten", it was largely believed that the requests that poured in were from criminals or public figures looking to erase their pasts. But The Guardian recently discovered data in Google's transparency report that was never meant to be public. An analysis of the source code reveals that 95 percent of the requests came in from ordinary people looking to delist personal information that is irrelevant or is just plain embarrassing.
