Google’s advisory council on the European Court of Justice's “right to be forgotten” ruling has published a report saying that the requirement should apply to search sites based in Europe rather than the rest of the company's sites around the world. The council featured experts such as former German justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and was co-chaired by Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt and its chief legal officer David Drummond. The report published by the panel of experts backed Google’s narrower interpretation of the Court of Justice’s judgment, the internet giant having previously argued that the legislation should only apply to its European websites. “We believe that delistings applied to the European versions of search will, as a general rule, protect the rights of the data subject adequately in the current state of affairs and technology,” concluded the advisory panel, although Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger did not agree, arguing that "the internet is global, the protection of the user’s rights must also be global" and that “any circumvention of these rights must be prevented.”
Google told the advisory group that 95 percent of search queries in Europe are entered on local search engines. In addition, most users are automatically directed to local Google sites when they type in www.google.com. However, the report does suggest a number of ways in which Google can improve the processes for allowing people to request removal of information and proposes that publishers be given the right to appeal against the removal of links to information. In December Google reported that it had taken down links to personal information online in response to around 40 percent of the 210,000 requests received.
