Abstract
The ‘right to be forgotten’, also known as the right to oblivion, droit à l’oubli (French) or diritto al’oblio (Italian), is a complex and intriguing juridical instrument. Defined as ‘the right to silence on past events in life that are no longer occurring’ (Pino, 2000: 237), the debate around this right has recently been resumed in Europe. Due to outstanding ICT developments, namely the digitisation and proliferation of information,3 and its storage by default, the question over the need, admissibility and feasibility of a specific and wider legal instrument to delete information has been inexorably posed.
This chapter is an updated and abridged version of the author’s previously published article: ‘Oblivion: The Right to Be Different … from Oneself. Re-proposing the Right to be Forgotten’. IDP: Revista de Internet, Derecho y Política, No. 13 (2012), pp. 122–137. The article comments also on the most relevant of the conflicts of rights that the right to be forgotten will have to address, namely freedom of expression and the need to preserve social memory; and revisits the criteria for balancing these rights.
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). The views expressed in this chapter are purely those of the author and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrade, N. N. G. d. (2011a). Data Protection, Privacy and Identity: Distinguishing Concepts and Articulating Rights. In S. Fischer-Hübner, P. Duquenoy M. Hansen, R. Leenes & G. Zhang (eds), Privacy and Identity Management for Life. 6th IFIP WG 9.2, 9.6/11.7, 11.4, 11.6/PrimeLife International Summer School, Helsingborg, Sweden, 2–6 August, 2010. Revised selected papers, Berlin: Heidelberg, pp. 90–107.
Andrade, N. N. G. d. (2011b). Right to Personal Identity: The Challenges of Ambient Intelligence and the Need for a New Legal Conceptualization. In S. Gutwirth, Y. Poullet, P. De Hert & R. E. Leenes (eds), Privacy and Data Protection. An Element of Choice. Dordrecht; London: Springer.
Andrade, N. N. G. d. (2011c). The Right to Privacy and the Right to Identity in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing: Friends or Foes? A Proposal towards a Legal Articulation. In C. Akrivopoulou & A. Psygkas (eds), Personal Data Privacy and Protection in a Surveillance Era: Technologies and Practices. Hershey PA: Information Science Publishing.
Article 29 Data Protection WP. (2009). Opinion 5/2009 on Online Social Networking.
Bean, C. (2010). Posterity. How Future Historians will use the Twitter Archives. Retrieved 2 October 2010, from: http://www.slate.com/id/2251429/.
De Hert, P. (2008). A Right to Identity to Face the Internet of Things. Retrieved from http://portal.unesco.org/ci/fr/files/25857/12021328273de_Hert-Paul.pdl/de%2BHert-Paul.pdl. Also on the CD of Commission Nationale française pour l’Unesco, Ethique et droits de l’homme dans la societé d’information. Actes, synthèse et recommandations, 13–14 September 2007, Strasbourg.
European Commission. (2010). A Comprehensive Approach on Personal Data Protection in the European Union.
European Commission. (2011). Special Eurobarometer 359: Attitudes on Data Protection and Electronic Identity in the European Union.
European Commission. (2012). Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Protection of Individuals with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data and on the Free Movement of Such Data (General Data Protection Regulation) Brussels.
European Data Protection Supervisor. (2011). EDPS Opinion of 14 July 2011 on the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions-’A Comprehensive Approach on Personal Data Protection in the European Union’.
Gutwirth, S. (2009). Beyond Identity? IDIS — Identity in the Information Society, 2(1), 122–133.
Hildebrandt, M. (2006). Privacy and Identity. In E. Claes, A. Duff & S. Gutwirth (eds), Privacy and the Criminal Law. Antwerpen: Intersentia; Oxford: Hart, pp. 43–57.
Hildebrandt, M. (2009). Profiling and AmI. In K. Rannenberg, D. Royer & A. Deuker (eds), The Future of Identity in the Information Society: Challenges and Opportunities. Berlin; London: Springer, pp. 273–313
Mayer-Schönberger, V. (2009). Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Mayes, T. (2011). We Have No Right to be Forgotten Online. The Guardian.
Neethling, J. (2005). Personality Rights: A Comparative Overview. Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, 38(2), 210–245.
Neethling, J., Potgieter, J. M., & Visser, P.J. (1996). Neethling’s Law of Personality. Durban: Butterworths.
Niger, S. (2008). Il Diritto All’ Oblio. In G. Finocchiaro (ed.), Diritto all’Anonimato: Anonimato, Nome e Identitá Personale. Padova: Cedam, pp. 59–73; 113–129.
Paul-Choudhury S. (2011). Your Digital Legacy. New Scientist. 23 April.
Pino, G. (2000). The Right to Personal Identity in Italian Private Law: Constitutional Interpretation and Judge-Made Rights. In M. Van Hoecke & F. Ost (eds), The Harmonization of Private Law in Europe. Oxford: Hart Publishing, pp. 225–237.
Pino, G. (2003). Il diritto all’identità personale: interpretazione costituzionale e creatività giurisprudenziale. Bologna: Il mulino.
Pino, G. (2010). L’identità personale. In S. Rodotá & P. Zatti (eds), Trattato di biodiritto. Milano: Giuffrè. Vol. I, pp. 297–321.
Pousson, A. (2002). Domicile et Identité. ‘Je t’aime, moi non plus’. In J. Pousson-Petit (ed.), L’Identité de la Personne Humaine. Étude de droit français et le droit comparé Bruxelles: Bruylant, pp. 529–564.
Ricœur, P. (1992). Oneself as Another. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Rosen, J. (2010,). The Web Means the End of Forgetting. New York Times, 21 July.
Trucco, L. (2004). Introduzione allo studio dell’identità individuale nell’ordinamento costituzionale italiano. Torino: Giappichelli.
Werro, F. (2009). The Right to Inform v. the Right to be Forgotten: A Transatlantic Clash. In A. Colombi Ciacchi, C. Godt, P. Rott & L. Jane Smith (eds), Liability in the Third Millennium; Georgetown Public Law Research Paper No 2. Baden-Baden: F.R.G, pp. 285–300
Zittrain, J. (2008). The Future of the Internet and How to Stop it. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Norberto Nuno Gomes de Andrade
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
de Andrade, N.N.G. (2014). Oblivion: The Right to be Different … from Oneself: Re-Proposing the Right to be Forgotten. In: Ghezzi, A., Pereira, Â.G., Vesnić-Alujević, L. (eds) The Ethics of Memory in a Digital Age. Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137428455_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137428455_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49145-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-42845-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)