Piyush Jha, B.A.LL.B.(Hons.), School of Law, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
ABSTRACT
With the inception of internet sometime during the latter part of the 20th century, the world witnessed the arrival of a technology that would impact their lives on an unprecedented scale. Today, we live in a society whose engines are ignited by the pistons of social media. In this day and age, the sheer volume of an individual’s presence in the virtual world is used to assess their foundation in the real life. Google has become synonymous with “search,” and more often than not it is the virtual persona of an individual or an institution that determines their character. Due to the perpetual rise of information and technology in the past decade or so, we now have unprecedented access to the most intimate details of other people, both good and bad. The lines between public and private life are blurring more than ever. The thought of putting yourself into the shoes of someone who has done something embarrassing and then found out that the whole world is privy to that information sounds like a digital nightmare. At a time when artificial intelligence has progressed to the point where it can store and understand data, study behavioral patterns, and automate human reactions, we must consider the magnitude of our digital trail on the internet. Since our personal information is no longer limited to papers, formal documents, and government records, it may now be easily accessed by anyone from anywhere in the world using the internet. An underlying concern is the rapid change in the nature and scope of personal information available online. For instance, to appear in the results of a simple Google search, one does not have to be a criminal or an overachiever in their field. The right to be forgotten in a nutshell is a tool to remove the personal data present on the internet.
Keywords: Right to be Forgotten, Privacy, Personal Data, Individual, Legislation, India
