The Censorship of our Internet

As Google hides its first links to news sources on the internet deemed “old or irrelevant”, from websites including the BBC and Wikipedia under the 'right to be forgotten' legislation, you have to wonder what the future of the internet will look like.

This is an important question for many. The growing concern about the 'right to be forgotten' is stemming from the way the internet has become a hugely democratic space. A great societal leveller. It is somewhere information is disseminated between vast swathes of individuals, often for the purpose of making society more transparent. This need for a free and open internet is an essential requisite in the spreading and retention of important information, it helps preserve that which could all too easily be swept under the carpet in the past.

The 'right to be forgotten' is not a terrible piece of legislation, it could be fantastic, as long as it is used correctly. It could be incredibly useful for many who should be afforded the right to start afresh. Theoretically, much of the stigma attached to people deserving of a second chance who have made mistakes, suffered bankruptcy, or been victims themselves could be removed, or at the very least dissipated by enacting this right.

However, the 'right to be forgotten' comes with many obvious and worrying implications. It is not impossible to see a direct line between this piece of legislation and future successful attempts to limit the freedom of important information on the internet. If your average person such as Mario Costeja Gonzalez can win a case against Google, effectively limiting the freedom of information on the internet, how long will is be until the powerful decide it is their right too? Armed with their vast reserves of cash and the best lawyers it is not impossible to think of situations in which they might be successful.

Societies elites could then effectively remove links to articles and information they do not wish to be publicised via the internet. They could, in the foreseeable future, begin to shape the bias in search results similarly to the bias they enjoy in the traditional forms of media. It leaves us Europeans (for now) open to the further censorship of the internet, and to attempts at stifling the spreading of details and nefarious workings of 'our betters'.

Google removing links to data on Wikipedia is perhaps the most important part of this. It is a milestone in the attempts to censor this important cultural space. Simply because in the case of Wikipedia, unlike the other websites to date, it is not a corporate entity. It is entirely edited by the community, by the worlds population, thus making it the largest, most influential, and most democratic source of free information in existence.

It is by extension a fundamental right.

A right you cannot help but feel is being stifled in the interests of the elites. A right afforded by the internet that seemed untouchable not too long ago.