The Right to be Forgotten in the European Human Rights Regime Buchkatalog

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2014 im Fachbereich Politik - Internationale Politik - Thema: Völkerrecht und Menschenrechte, Note: 1, Universität Wien (Postgraduate Center), Veranstaltung: Human Rights Master, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: A recent judgement by the European Court of Justice has stirred up heated debates among supporters and opponents of the newly introduced right to be forgotten. At the core of the discussion is the question how to balance privacy rights against the right to freedom of expression in the digital age. The following paper considers arguments by both factions, to identify, critically discuss or reject potential harms evolving from the current concept of the right to be forgotten. While supporters of the Court's decision, such as Viviane Reding, who is Justice Commissioner of the European Union (EU), are convinced that the ruling is a step forward in personal data protection, others believe that "only the powerful will benefit" from the new right and that it weakens "our democratic foundations" and leads to a dangerous rewriting of history. The following paper, which was drafted within the framework of the Vienna Human Rights Master Program, is structured in six chapters, which deal with various historical, legal and technical aspects of the right to be forgotten. The first part will place the right to be forgotten within its historical context and trace its roots within the notion of the right to oblivion, to gain a better understanding of its legal descent. The second chapter will provide a brief overview about the legal documents, which govern the European Data Protection policy with emphasis on the current and future system of the European Union. The third chapter outlines specific cases, which were incisive for the development of the scope and enforcement of the right to be forgotten. The fourth part of this essay will critically discuss possible interferences of the right to be forgotten with other human rights such as the right to freedom of expression, the right to remember and the right to information. Afterwards the paper will take account of the controversial role of data controllers, such as the search engine Google, and briefly discuss its role within the legal context. Finally the paper will bring the reader's attention to the technical difficulties, which surround the right to be forgotten.