A landmark ruling in Europe might have major repercussions for personal identity management online.

Name of the game

The European Union’s highest court has just ruled that individuals can now request Google remove links to content such as articles and court judgements that feature their name.

The surprise ruling conflicts with a previous decision by Europe’s advocate general and could significantly alter how personal information is stored and accessed by search engines.

The court explained that because search results had such an impact on people’s lives, individuals should have some measure of control over them. The ruling, which will affect search engines such as Yahoo and Bing, is being seen as a victory by privacy advocates.

Forget me not

While the ruling’s language is intentionally broad, meaning public interest must be weighed against individual needs, it means that Google must consider every request to delete links to name searches.

If Google does not comply the individual can escalate the request to their national data-protection authority.

Searching for answers

The development will be closely watched around the globe to see if similar laws are enacted in the US and elsewhere, and potentially change the way individuals and brands manage their reputations online.

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