Right to be Forgotten

Subject – Polity

Context – Centre told the Delhi High Court that the “right to be forgotten” is part of the fundamental right to privacy

Concept –

It allows a person to seek deletion of private information from the Internet.
The concept has found recognition in some jurisdictions abroad, particularly the European Union.
While the right is not recognised by law in India, courts in recent months have held it to be an intrinsic part of the right to privacy.

Which countries have such laws?

The EU in 2018 adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Article 17 of which provides for the right to erasure of certain categories of personal data.
Russia in 2015 enacted a law that allows users to force a search engine to remove links to personal information on grounds of irrelevancy, inaccuracy and violation of law.
The right to be forgotten is also recognised to some extent in Turkey and Siberia, while courts in Spain and England have ruled on the subject.

What is the position in India?

Centre told the Delhi High Court that the right to privacy has been recognised as a fundamental right in the K S Puttaswamy judgment (2017) and that the ‘right to be forgotten’ is evolving in India.
The government said the Personal Data Protection Bill (a Joint Parliamentary Committee’s report on which was tabled on December 16), contains provisions to the doctrine of the ‘right to be forgotten’.