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What does it mean to be free?
Philosophers have long argued that liberty is not only the freedom to act, but also the freedom to begin again. Yet in the digital age, we carry a permanent archive of our past selves—old mistakes, youthful errors, forgotten words etched into search engines like scars that never heal.
The Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF), first articulated by the Court of Justice of the European Union in Google Spain v AEPD and Mario Costeja González (2014), was a radical answer to this dilemma. It declared: a person has the right to request that outdated, irrelevant, or excessive personal data be erased from search results.
Most people think of this as “deleting” content. But here’s what they don’t know:
⚪ The content itself often remains online, RTBF only removes it from search engine indexing, which is what truly determines visibility in the digital world.
⚪ It is not an absolute right. Courts weigh it against freedom of expression and the public’s right to know. A politician’s corruption scandal may never be forgotten; a student’s foolish blog post might.
⚪ It has triggered global debates: Should a right born in Europe extend across the world’s search engines? Can a French court tell Google to de-index results in Canada or India?
The Right to Be Forgotten, then, is not just law, it is jurisprudence in motion. It asks: Does a human being deserve the dignity of digital rebirth? Or does society deserve the permanence of history, no matter how unflattering?
💡 Why it matters today:
For individuals: It is a shield against digital hauntings, giving you power over your past.
For societies: It forces us to balance memory and forgetfulness, two pillars of justice often overlooked.
For law: It tests the reach of sovereignty in a borderless internet.
Perhaps Nietzsche was right: “The ability to forget is the secret of eternal renewal.” In cyber law, that secret is becoming a right.
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