The right to be forgotten – one of the fundamental rights of internet users

Abstract

Information technology changed the way we relate to information as any data posted on the Internet can remain accessible indefinitely. This ease of access undoubtedly favored the freedom of information, but the fundamental right to privacy of natural persons seems to be under threat in the absence of adequate legal mechanisms. Since recently the Court of Justice of the European Union (,,CJEU”) ruled in two cases (C136/17 and C-507/17) on a series of questions concerning the implementation of the right to de-referencing (digital right to be forgotten) and its territorial scope, this paper analyses the impact of those two judgments on the effectiveness of the right to be forgotten. On the one hand, we are witnessing its strengthening, especially as a result of the clarification that, in principle, the operator of a search engine is required to admit a request for de-referencing where the information relates to an earlier stage of a legal proceeding and no longer corresponds to the current situation. On the other hand, we find a limitation of its effectiveness, since, by default, the links removal by the operator of the search engine will only be done on the versions of that search engine corresponding to all member states. However, we must not forget that CJEU emphasized that, in the light of national standards of protection of fundamental rights, a supervisory or judicial authority of a member state remains competent to order, where appropriate, the operator of that search engine to carry out a de-referencing concerning all its versions.