Google announced that it has created a webform in accordance with a recent top European court ruling that citizens have the "right to be forgotten."
The webform will allow Europeans to send in requests to have Google remove search results on their names from their website. Users can fill out the online form by providing a link to the information that they want removed, their country or origin and the reason for their takedown request.
However, the relevant links will only be removed from Google's search results. The information, which will be held by a separate entity from Google, will stay on the original website.
Google said that it has been already receiving takedown requests from European users to remove certain personal information from the company's search engine, after the European Union's Court of Justice ruled that Internet search services should delete information that are "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant."
"We're creating an expert advisory committee to cultivate a public conversation about these issues," said a Google representative in a statement.
The representative added that the company will be working with data protection authorities and other entities as Google begins the implementation of the court ruling.
However, Google CEO Larry Page cautions that the European court ruling could damage the next generation of Internet startups and could strengthen repressive regimes that look to enforce Internet restrictions.
"We're a big company and we can respond to these kind of concerns and spend money on them and deal with them, it's not a problem for us," Page said. "But as a whole, as we regulate the internet, I think we're not going to see the kind of innovation we've seen."
Page adds that the company will look to more actively engage Europe over privacy issues.
"I wish we'd been more involved in a real debate . . . in Europe," Page said. "That's one of the things we've taken from this, that we're starting the process of really going and talking to people."
The May 13 ruling by the European Union's Court of Justice was the result of a case filed by Mario Costeja González from Spain that was supported by the Spanish data protection authority. González wanted Google search results linking to reports of his old unpaid debts to be taken down.
Reactions to the ruling in the United States has mostly been negative, with some seeing the court's decision as a gross limitation on free speech.
