Why We Should Have The Right To Be Forgotten

For decades, the internet has been easily accessible for anyone, whether it be on a public computer or your personal mobile device, everyone seems to have access to it. With a couple simple finger strokes, anyone could look up current events, history, and even brutal crime cases. In some situations, there are people who are unhappy with the publicity given, because sometimes it can be embarrassing or shameful. The “right to be forgotten” in context to the internet is the ability to have personal videos, pictures, and information deleted from the web. The purpose of this is to be “forgotten” so others can not find you through search engines. People should have the right to be forgotten because everyone is entitled to their own privacy. Some situations are just better being left in the past and forgotten

This protects us individually because it ensures that our privacy rights are retained and kept safe. As Antoon Da Baets describes, “Elsewhere I discussed one dimension of posthumous privacy – the restrictions imposed on the public disclosure of facts about them (Page 8). However, he believes that people should not have the right to be forgotten. From his historian's viewpoint, he believes that everyone should have the right to be forgotten because data could be monopolized. Baets claims that “Only in the case of children do I see the legitimacy in erasing information previously posted by themselves on the internet. Only for spending convictions do I see the legitimacy in the minimum anonymization upon request and in a right of reply (Page 9). From his viewpoint, I can understand because as a historian recording crucial details of the past are vital for their jobs. However I still strongly believe that people have a right to have information that pertains to themselves deleted because it infringes on their rights of privacy, this prohibiting their “right to be