The Right to Be Forgotten: An Archival Perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT The right to be forgotten (RTBF) refers to an individual's ability to request that a search engine remove links to information about himself or herself from search results. The RTBF has been the law of the land in Europe since a 2014 ruling by the Court of Justice, and it has fervent supporters in many parts of the world, but archivists, librarians, and others whose business it is to provide public access to information have challenged it internationally. This article reviews the legal and historical background of the RTBF, outlines some recent applications of the 2014 ruling, and briefly introduces the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It concludes with a discussion of several specific points where the right to be forgotten comes into tension with the professional values of archivists, including their values of accountability, the preservation of the historical record, and equal access to information.