The European Commission is now pushing for a legal right “to be forgotten” which would ensure that content such as embarrassing pictures or other material is completely deleted from sites like Facebook.
The Commission has said it has received complaints regarding Facebook’s privacy policy, when users found that although they thought material was deleted, it was actually still online.
”Internet users must have effective control of what they put online and be able to correct, withdraw or delete it at will,” European rights commissioner Vivane Reding said in a statement.
”What happens if you want to permanently delete your profile on a social networking site? Can this be done easily? The right to be forgotten is essential in today’s digital world.”
If the proposal is made into law, it would have severe implications for tech companies such as Google and Facebook.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
