Google has been ordered by a UK data protection watchdog to remove up to nine links to news stories involving a minor criminal offense by an individual.
The order was made by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over earlier links about the case having already been removed. It seems as though the ICO made the order after Google refused to remove the links after being asked to by the individual in question, which is when the ICO stepped in.
"Google was right, in its original decision, to accept that search results relating to the complainant's historic conviction were no longer relevant and were having a negative impact on privacy," stated deputy commissioner David Smith.
"It is wrong of them to now refuse to remove newer links that reveal the same details and have the same negative impact ... we understand that people need to be able to find these stories through search engines like Google. But that does not need them to be revealed when searching on the original complainant's name."
Google has 35 days from Aug. 18 to remove the links from search results, but the company also has the right to appeal to the General Regulatory Chamber.
The story gets a little messy considering the fact that many of the past information show up when users search "the right to be forgotten," in which a number of articles referring to the law also refer to this case. Google is essentially being ordered to remove links about the right to be forgotten under the right to be forgotten.
Google has long had a battle against European regulators when it comes to the right to be forgotten. The law allows citizens of the European Union to request links related to their past be removed from search results, but Google suggests that this could be problematic in the archiving of accurate information.
