A site listing the terms Google has removed from its European search results following the controversial 'right to be forgotten' ruling has been launched
Hidden from Google has compiled a list of links the search engine has removed from its European sites, alongside the specific search terms the individual has requested be taken down.
At the time of writing, the site does not yet list the links Google hasremoved to Telegraph articles, including images relating to Max Mosely's 2008 court case and an article on former Law Society chief Robert Sayer.
Links to two articles relating to Scottish referee Dougie McDonald wereinitally taken down before being later reinstated.
"This list is a way of archiving the actions of censorship on the Internet. It is up to the reader to decide whether our liberties are being upheld or violated by the recent rulings by the EU," reads a passage on the site.
Google's spokesperson Peter Barron has said that the recent ruling from the European Court of Justice forced Google to go against its own principles, but claimed it was left with no option.
“It’s not a task that we ever wanted,” said Mr Barron, speaking on Monday. “Our background is that we are firmly in favour of free expression. The way that it’s worked hitherto is that an individual with a grievance would go to the publisher or to a court – we don’t think we should be judge and jury but today we face the law.”
European citizens now have the right to have “inadequate”, “irrelevant” or “no longer relevant” search results removed from internet searches, after a judgment against Google Spain. Individuals can only apply for the removal of a link to an article or picture, rather than the deletion of the information itself.
To date Google has been asked to remove over a quarter of a million links, after over 70,000 requests were received.
The search engine received more than 12,000 requests to remove material on May 28, the first day of operation, which has now fallen to around 1,000 per day. Each request tends to ask for an average of 3.8 URLs to be taken down, equating to over a quarter of a million individual links.
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