Ctrl + Z: The Right to Be Forgotten
 |
| Anteprima |
A
gripping insight into the digital debate over data ownership,
permanence and policy “This is going on your permanent record!” is a
threat that has never held more weight than it does in the Internet Age,
when information lasts indefinitely. The ability to make good on that
threat is as democratized as posting a Tweet or making blog. Data about
us is created, shared, collected, analyzed, and processed at an
overwhelming scale. The damage caused can be severe, affecting
relationships, employment, academic success, and any number of other
opportunities—and it can also be long lasting. One possible solution to
this threat? A digital right to be forgotten, which would in turn create
a legal duty to delete, hide, or anonymize information at the request
of another user. The highly controversial right has been criticized as a
repugnant affront to principles of expression and access, as unworkable
as a technical measure, and as effective as trying to put the cat back
in the bag. Ctrl+Z breaks down the debate and provides guidance for a
way forward. It argues that the existing perspectives are too limited,
offering easy forgetting or none at all. By looking at new theories of
privacy and organizing the many potential applications of the right, law
and technology scholar Meg Leta Jones offers a set of nuanced choices.
To help us choose, she provides a digital information life cycle,
reflects on particular legal cultures, and analyzes international
interoperability. In the end, the right to be forgotten can be
innovative, liberating, and globally viable.
