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Google's general counsel has signalled the company intends to fight, hard, against broad interpretations of the European Union's right to be forgotten.
Kent Walker, the company's general counsel and senior veep, put his name to a strongly-worded post on Wednesday, US time. Titled "Defending access to lawful information at Europe's highest court", the post argued that forthcoming cases in the European Court of Justice "represent a serious assault on the public's right to access lawful information."
Walker wrote that French courts' request for a European Court of Justice ruling on personal data collection effectively seeks a regime under which "all mentions of criminality or political affiliation should automatically be purged from search results, without any consideration of public interest."
(Score: 5, Informative) by inertnet on Friday November 17 2017, @11:53AM (3 children)
It's a bit more complex in Europe because of WWII. Although history is slowly forgetting this detail, the reason why so many Jews were easily rounded up and transported away to the death camps, is because the Nazis just had to go through municipal records in occupied countries. For a number of decades, "never again" meant not only no more war, but also to never again create such easily accessible registries with details like religion or political affiliation. I believe that this sentiment is probably still present in France and is playing a role in their position in this matter.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aiwarrior on Friday November 17 2017, @12:59PM
You are correct, except for the census, in Portugal you cannot have public state records on your race and religion.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by srobert on Friday November 17 2017, @04:22PM (1 child)
Voterrecords.com lists voter registrations with party affiliations for 14 states. Look up your own if you don't believe it. When the fascists completely consolidate their power, it'll be easy for them to verify that your political views are in opposition to their rule. I wrote my representatives local, state and national about this. There has been no response. Am I the only one who thinks that our party affiliations should not be considered public information? Imagine who could look up your party affiliation; your boss, your church members, union members, your family members. Nobody is spying on you in the voting booth, but there are some employers out there who would fire you for your political views. And some of those 14 states are "fire at will" states, so your employer wouldn't have to state any reason.
(Score: 4, Informative) by drussell on Friday November 17 2017, @08:40PM
The whole concept of a "party affiliation" seems completely insane to most of the world.
You should be able to show up at the designated polling place, just as a citizen, nothing more... and vote for whoever you want from the full slate of available candidates in your area. Period.