The right to be forgotten in the digital era
Fereniki Panagopoulou-Koutnatzi
. Introduction
A society devoid of memory may experience monumental disasters. In addition
to its historical value, however, memory can also serve a social and legal purpose
as reflected in Greek mythology where the Erinyes, the goddesses of vengeance,
persecuted wrongdoers, denying them their right to rebirth. Today’s society, in
contrast to that of the Greek goddesses, is one of absolute digital memory: almost
everything - from our credit card transactions, court records, university grades,
and personal Internet communications - is recorded and follows us throughout
our lives, whether we desire this or not. Indeed, particular concern has been
raised by the Internet’s enhancement of memory, along with the danger posed
by the data collection that takes place on the Internet, which is often undisclosed
and imperceptible to the average citizen.
1
For example, an unfortunate moment
in our lives, such as a sexually provocative photograph of oneself sent to an ex-
partner or posted on Facebook, or an adolescent crime committed decades ago,
or another dark page of our lives, may be recorded on the Internet for others to
see. Painful parts of our past that we wish to forget may resurface and impact our
reputations for years. This concern regarding the extremely sizeable memory of
the Internet, as well as the negative consequences that come with having each
and every of our acts, transactions, and communications recorded, was ‘heard’
by the European Parliament Regulation Proposal and the Council on the Protec-
tion of Individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free
movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation) which, in turn, ef-
fectively reaffirmed the preexisting right to be forgotten.
2
1. See
Zoe Kardasiadou, In the aftermath of Directive 95/46/EC, Europeans’ Politeia 2/2011
(issue dedicated on the topic of personal data protection), p. 209 et seq. (213). In Greek.
2. See the Proposals for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the European Council
on the protection of individuals regarding the processing of personal data and on the free
movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation), available at
.
eu/justice/data-protection/document/review2012/com_2012_11_el.pdf, 25 January, last
access June 10, 2013.
