Google isn't doing enough to satisfy "right to be forgotten" requests in Europe, according to a group of 80 leadings academics who sent the search giant an open letter asking for more transparency.
The group states in the letter that the public should be better informed about what information Google is removing from search results, as well as how much data is going away, according to The Telegraph. They added that people should also know about the type and quantity of sources being removed, the type and quantity of requests being rejected, and Google's rules regarding balancing privacy and freedom of expression.
"The vast majority of these decisions face no public scrutiny, though they shape public discourse," the letter states. "What's more, the values at work in this process will/should inform information policy around the world. A fact-free debate about the right to be forgotten is in no one's interest."
The move follows one year after the European Court of Justice ruled that Google must remove links to information on search results deemed "outdated, irrelevant or misrepresentative," The Guardian reported. Google has been the main target for the "right to be forgotten" issue, as it represents 90 percent of Europe's search engine market.
Google says it has since processed 253,617 requests to remove 920,258 links, and approved just over 40 percent of the requests.
The letter adds that the decisions search engines make regarding balancing personal privacy and access to information "face no public scrutiny, though they shape public discourse. What's more, the values at work in this process will/should inform information policy around the world. A fact-free debate about the RTBF is in no one's interest."
Among those who signed the letter are Prof. Ellen P. Goodman from Rutgers University School of Law, Paul Bernal from the University of East Anglia School of Law, and Ian Brown, professor of information security and privacy at the University of Oxford, The Guardian reported. Others include former German justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and Peggy Valcke of the University of Leuven, one of 10 academics, regulators and executives on Google's advisory council.
Google said in response to the letter that it will consider its ideas and try to balance them with "the various constraints within which we have to work- operationally and from a data protection standpoint," The Telegraph reported.
"It's helpful to have feedback like this so we know what information the public would find useful," the company added.
