The Right to Be Forgotten Debate: Pros and Cons
[1]
Peng Xiao, Foreign Languages School, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China.
[2]
Haoran Lin, Law School, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Nowadays, a mass of “right to be forgotten” cases are springing up in various countries around the world. On May 25, 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) came into effect. In the meantime, some countries begin to legislate to protect the right to be forgotten. The growing number of cases and legislative attempts give rise to a heated debate over the establishment of this right. This study aims to summarize main arguments for and against the legalization of this right and provide advice for legislators. The nature of this paper dictates the use of a comparative analysis of opposing arguments about the right to be forgotten. Protagonists of the legalization of the right to be forgotten argue that the forgetting mechanism is crucial to the human society; this right originates in human traditions; the right is a logical extension of traditional rights. Antagonists, however, contend that this right violates the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press; it is also in breach of citizens’ right to know; the exercise of this right faces great difficulties due to technical limitations; it may even engender counterproductive effects. It can be discovered that there is still great controversy over whether the right to be forgotten should be legally protected, hence it would be imprudent for legislators to write this right in law at this stage. It’s recommended that lawmakers from countries where the right to be forgotten hasn’t become lawful should examine the aforementioned arguments one by one by taking the national conditions of their countries into consideration and then decide when the time will be ripe for legislation.
Right to Be Forgotten, Pros and Cons Debate
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