WeirFoulds Partner James Kosa discussed if Google indexed search results and the right to be forgotten fall under Canada’s privacy laws with The Early Edition on CBC Radio.
James discussed a current case involving Google that was filed this week in Federal Court by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. The Privacy Commissioner is looking for clarity on whether Canadian privacy laws include a “right to be forgotten”, and, if so, whether that right extends to Google indexed search results. The right to be forgotten is a concept that has been discussed and put into practice in the European Union under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The right to be forgotten is the right of an individual to request the removal of items that are untrue and/or unflattering from the records of an entity that processes personal information, and in this case is argued to include the owners of a website containing personal information, and Google’s indexed search results that point to that personal information. The Privacy Commissioner believes that Canadians should have this right.
