Google has formed an advisory council of experts from the worlds of academia, the media, data protection, civil society and the tech sector to advise it on the application of the “right to be forgotten” under European law. The council comprises Google chief legal officer David Drummond, former CEO Eric Schmidt and eight others, including Luciano Floridi, Oxford University professor of philosophy and ethics of information, Le Monde editorial director Sylvie Kauffmann, Lidia Kolucka-Zuk, executive director of the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, Frank La Rue, UN special rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Wikimedia founder Jimmy Wales.
The council will be asking for evidence and recommendations from different groups, and will hold public meetings this autumn across Europe to examine these issues more deeply. Its public report will include recommendations for particularly difficult removal requests (like criminal convictions); thoughts on the implications of the court’s decision for European internet users, news publishers, search engines and others; and procedural steps that could improve accountability and transparency for websites and citizens.
