Europe's 'right to foget': Thoughts about whatchamacallit

As best I can recall, the European Court of Justice affirmed this remarkable legal principle last spring after a guy in Spain brought suit against Google, seeking to have certain “personal information” removed from Google’s search engines. To everyone’s surprise, if memory serves, the court ruled against Google and said forgetfulness must be viewed through the lens of law, and not as a byproduct of wishful thinking or the haze of old age.

Google says it now gets an average of 1,000 requests per day from people in the 28 European nations covered by the ruling who want damning information expunged from the Internet. It’s like taking a legal mulligan on life.

So far, the folks most eager to have details of their past forgotten tend to be the rich and frequently-Googled, like Greg Lindae, a Netherlands-based private-equity investor who demanded his name be removed from a 16-year-old Wall Street Journal article that carried the headline, “Ancient Hindu Sex Practice Gets a New-Age Makeover.” Mr. Lindae doesn’t dispute that he attended the sex workshop mentioned in the story, he just doesn’t like being reminded of it.

(I hope you are able to read the preceding paragraph before Mr. Lindae succeeds in having it deleted.)

Legal scholars in the future will undoubtedly look back on this law, assuming they don’t forget its details, as a turning point for mankind.

Imagine, for example, how different our lives will be when statements such as, “I forgot to trim the hedges,” “I forgot to buy milk,” and “I forgot to pick up your mother at the train,” are backed by the full force of law.

I expect the courts in Europe to soon ratify a Right to Photoshop law. Bad hair day in the office photo? Fixed. Ex-spouse standing with your kids at the Grand Canyon? Gone.

Now, where was I?

Before long we’ll vaguely remember Bernie Madoff as a noted philanthropist, John Edwards as simply a great family man, and O.J. Simpson as a mediocre movie actor.