Hi All,  The “right to be forgotten” has been the subject of much discussion and  debate (including on this list),[1] particularly following the May European  Court of Justice judgment ordering Google to delist some links related to a  Spanish citizen.[2] Since then, search engines have been receiving requests  to remove hundreds of thousands of URLs from search results. Google  recently released more information about its right to be forgotten  requests.[3]  The WMF legal team has been watching the “right to be forgotten” issue  closely and considering what legal strategies we should take going forward.  Today, the WMF published its first transparency report[4]—you can read more  in this blog post.[5] WMF held a press briefing announcing our strategy of  advocacy and transparency on link censorship. We will oppose what we see as  a misguided court decision that has resulted in a crude implementation of  the “right to be forgotten.” Lila has also issued a statement,[6] and,  Geoff, WMF’s general counsel, and Michelle Paulson, WMF's legal counsel,  have published a blog on the subject.[7] As the topic is of interest to  this group, we wanted to keep you informed of these recent legal  developments.  Thanks,  Stephen  [1]  http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/advocacy_advisors/2014-June/000547.html,  http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/advocacy_advisors/2014-June/000539.html  [2] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:62012CJ0131  [3]  https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/file/d/0B8syaai6SSfiT0EwRUFyOENqR3M…  [4] http://transparency.wikimedia.org/  [5]  https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/08/06/wikimedia-foundation-releases-first-t…  [6]  https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/08/06/european-court-decision-punches-holes…   [7]  https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/08/06/wikipedia-pages-censored-in-european-…  --  Stephen LaPorte  Legal Counsel  Wikimedia Foundation  *NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and  ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for,  community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity.  For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer  <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.*  _______________________________________________  Advocacy_Advisors mailing list  Advocacy_Advisors(a)lists.wikimedia.org  https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy_advisors

Thanks very much for this, Stephen and the legal team. I especially appreciate that the WMF has decided to make public the specific notifications of the use of the "Right to be forgotten" in the EU.[1]

interesting that the bulk of the suppression requests have come from a single (ex?) Wikimedian targeting internal process pages of his home

Not shockingly, the RtF request is now in the top 5 results on a Google search of that persons name. The NY Times covered the transparency report:

[1]:

On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 6:15 AM, Stephen LaPorte <email clipped> wrote: > Hi All, > > The “right to be forgotten” has been the subject of much > discussion and debate (including on this list),[1] particularly > following the May

> Court of Justice judgment ordering Google to delist some links > related

> Spanish citizen.[2] Since then, search engines have been receiving

> to remove hundreds of thousands of URLs from search results. > Google recently released more information about its right to be > forgotten requests.[3] > > The WMF legal team has been watching the “right to be forgotten” > issue closely and considering what legal strategies we should take > going

> Today, the WMF published its first transparency report[4]—you can > read

> in this blog post.[5] WMF held a press briefing announcing our

> advocacy and transparency on link censorship. We will oppose what > we

> a misguided court decision that has resulted in a crude > implementation

> the “right to be forgotten.” Lila has also issued a statement,[6] > and, Geoff, WMF’s general counsel, and Michelle Paulson, WMF's > legal

> have published a blog on the subject.[7] As the topic is of > interest to this group, we wanted to keep you informed of these > recent legal developments. > > Thanks, > Stephen > > [1] >

> >

> [2]

> [3] >

> [4] http://transparency.wikimedia.org/ > [5] >

> [6] >

> [7] >

> > -- > Stephen LaPorte > Legal Counsel > Wikimedia Foundation > > *NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal > and ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a > lawyer

> community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal

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