As Google battles to deal with the 70 000 requests from people wanting to be "forgotten", there are fears that the landmark European Union (EU) ruling is so broad that it will become dangerously restrictive.
In addition, because SA's pending Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act - which many expect to come into effect next year - is modelled on European data protection laws, the ruling could spill over, affecting local search results.
This comes as Google on Wednesday removed links to several articles, before changing its mind on Thursday and restoring some click-throughs, which underscores the difficulty the search engine is having implementing Europe's "right to be forgotten" ruling, reports Reuters.
The ruling, handed down in May by the Court of Justice of the European Union, caused a widespread backlash, as it is seen as an indirect form of censorship of information on the Internet. World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck explains the effect of Google removing results from searches is that people have to manually find information.
Too wide
Webber Wentzel senior associate Duncan Wild notes the ruling affects all search engines, including Yahoo and Bing. He says it creates a "very slippery slope", because of aspects such as how Google will determine whether something is no longer relevant.
Once search engines move beyond being neutral gateways and start getting involved in small ways, this turns into judgement calls, Wild adds. Google's request form indicates it will deal with cases on an individual basis, balancing the right to privacy with the right to know, when considering removing links to results that are "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed".
The Index of Censorship has noted the ruling "allows individuals to complain to search engines about information they do not like, with no legal oversight. This is akin to marching into a library and forcing it to pulp books. Although the ruling is intended for private individuals, it opens the door to anyone who wants to whitewash their personal history."
Goldstuck says the indirect censorship has the potential for abuse, and there will be test cases that will force refinement of the blanket ruling that contains too many grey areas. He notes SA's environment is currently conducive to this kind of ruling - especially on the back of SABC acting COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng's comments that journalists should be licensed ? although local authorities are likely to take a "wait and see" approach.
Google co-founder Larry Page has said compliance with the ruling was a "question of the broad things you might value; there's no way to get it perfect. There's always going to be some harm. You can't have perfect rights for everything," according to the Financial Times.
Local impact
Michalsons senior associate Andrew Weeks adds local law is already leaning towards a right to be forgotten, with the National Credit Act amnesty, for example. He says the Information Regulator - an office that will come into effect under the POPI Act - will be obliged to take cognisance of the European ruling, which would become part of its decision-making process when faced with similar requests.
Wild adds the ruling "definitely" has the potential to spill over into SA, although it is currently limited to European Union residents, because of the similarities between POPI and European laws.
SA's legal bodies may look to the EU for precedents to aid them in making rulings, says Wild. "It would not be surprising if it found its way into our law eventually."
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