By Claire Davenport
BRUSSELS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Google did battle with Spain's
data protection authority in Europe's highest court on Tuesday,
in a case with global implications that poses one of the
toughest questions of the Internet age: When is information
really private?
The issue before the European Court of Justice boils down to
this: If a person fails to make social security payments and
their house is auctioned as a result, do they have the right to
force Google to delete such damaging information from search
results?
Behind that question lie complex arguments over freedom of
information, the right to protect data, what it means to be a
publisher and who ultimately polices the web.
Google argues it should not have to erase lawful
content which it did not create from its massive search index.
Spanish officials argue that Google should delete
information from its results where an individual's privacy is
breached.
Following Tuesday's hearing at the court in Luxembourg, an
ECJ advocate-general will publish an opinion on the matter on
June 25. The judges are expected to rule by the end of the year.
The case is based on a complaint by a Spanish man who made a
Google search of his name and found a newspaper announcement
from several years earlier saying a property he owned was up for
auction because of non-payment of social security contributions.
One of Spain's top courts, the Audiencia Nacional, upheld
his complaint and ruled Google should delete the information
from its results. The case was referred to the European Court of
Justice in March last year after Google challenged the decision.
CONTROLLER OR HOST?
Google said in a blog post on Tuesday that there were "clear
societal reasons why this kind of information should be publicly
available".
The announcement of property auctioned as part of a legal
proceeding was "required under Spanish law and includes
factually correct information that is still publicly available
on the newspaper's website", said William Echikson, Google's
head of free expression for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Supporters of Google's stance say if the search giant was
made to delete such information it would be a step onto a
slippery slope, with demands for all sorts of data to be deleted
for reasons - essentially making Google the responsible party.
The European court will try to determine if Google can be
considered the "controller", or just a host of information. It
will also assess whether a search engine run by a company based
in California, such as Google, can be subject to EU privacy law.
Spain's data regulator has said EU judges must consider if
European citizens have to go to U.S. courts to exercise their
privacy rights and whether Google "is responsible for the damage
the diffusion of personal information can cause for citizens".
The case could determine the scope of a draft EU law
intended to strengthen citizens' privacy. Rules proposed by the
European Commission in 2012 and being debated by the European
Parliament would give people "the right to be forgotten" - to
have personal data deleted - in particular from the web.
Companies operating on the Internet say such a right should
not allow information to be manipulated at the expense of
freedom of speech.
Spain, which has had more than 180 similar cases, referred
the matter to the EU's highest court to clarify how the EU draft
law should be applied, particularly in relation to Google.
It said the outcome of the hearing would be relevant not
only in Spain, but in all EU countries.
(Additional reporting by Clare Kane)
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