Research On The Right To Be Forgotten

The hot debate on the right to be forgotten in China originated from the case of"RenJiaYu vs Beijing Baidu Technology Company",in which RenJiaYu's lawsuit request on the right to be forgotten was not supported,because it "did not conform to the legitimacy of interests and the necessity of protection".In fact,foreign countries have the similar cases a long time ago,such as Gonzalez vs Spain Google company case.In that case,The European court upheld Gonzalez's request so that Google have to remove the link.Even the state of California has enacted the eraser act,allowing minors in the state to erase their online presence on social networking sites.In these cases,a new legal right-"the right to be forgotten" is proposed,which refers to "the information subjects have right to delete the inappropriate and outdated information about himself which continues to retain will lead to the reduction of his social evaluation,and the information must be published on the network".It is different from the deletion right and privacy right in information type,scope of application,right attribute and remedy mode.Of course,the controversy over the right to be forgotten has not subsided.Supporters believe that it is conducive to strengthening the protection of personal data privacy,enabling information subjects to establish a new image and start a new life,and adjusting the unequal status between network users and network operators.However,opponents believe that it has such problems as causing "streisand effect",high exercise cost,huge technical difficulties and limited extraterritorial effect.However,the right to be forgotten is still necessary and feasible in China,because only by establishing this right can it conform to the development of The Times,adapt to the trend of economic globalization,provide legal support for information subjects to safeguard their rights,and provide legal basis for judges to decide cases.What's more,many normative legal documents in China are gradually endowing citizens with the right to information self-determination and providing feasibility for the establishment of the right to be forgotten.If we analyze the right to be forgotten from the perspective of the construction of legal relations,we should analyze its subject of rights,subject of obligations and object of application.The suitable subject should be limited to natural persons,among which it is necessary to focus on public figures,minors and the close relatives of the deceased.The obligatory subjects include the Internet search platform,social software and the third-party information controllers.The object of application refers to the"inappropriate,outdated and persistent information that will reduce the social evaluation of the information subject" posted on the network by the information subject himself or others.The content refers to that the information subjects have the right to ask the information controllers to take measures such as deleting links and hiding the key information of the identifiable subject to restrict the information dissemination.The information controllers should take corresponding measures in time.As a new kind of right,the right to be forgotten is bound to conflict with the prior right.People have the right to delete comments which are made a long time ago affects citizens' right to know;Leaving people unaware of the dangers around them affects public safety.The resolution of these conflicts requires the principle of public interest and proportionality.Like other rights,the right to be forgotten is subject to applicable exceptions.It is restricted when data are needed for the purpose of maintaining freedom of speech,the public interest related to the public,and the scientific research and historical statistics.So far we have already had some normative documents to protect citizen's right of personal information,such as the tort liability act,"the general civil law"provisions on privacy protection,the network safety,etc.These laws have gradually give citizens information autonomy and provide legal basis for rights of information subjects,but not for the protection of the right to be forgotten,so we need to establish the personal information protection act and regulations in which rule the content of the right to be forgotten in detial.In addition,a personal data protection agency should be set up to deal with disputes between information subjects and information controllers.Meanwhile,attention should be paid to cultivating self-discipline spirit of the Internet industry,improving citizens' awareness of safeguarding their rights and responding to lawsuits.