“Right To Be Forgotten” On Social Media | SocialExcerpts

“Right To Be Forgotten” On Social Media Jan 26

If European lawmakers have their way, soon the internet users in that continent will get more control over what they post online. In a major reform of policy, European Union proposed a new digital privacy law that will guarantee “Right To Be Forgotten” and “Right To Data Portability” to users.

The first right will ensure that companies like Facebook or Google will be bound by law to wipe off all user information from their database, if anyone makes such request. The other right will enable users to transfer their data from one online service to another, without any hassles.

All businesses operating in Europe will be bound by this law. In case any corporation fails to comply, they will be slapped with a fine of 1 million Euros or upto 2% of their annual turnover. Currently, different nations in Europe have different digital privacy laws. If passed, all 27 countries of the European Union will be bound by a single data protection law.

Spokesman for the EU, in an interview to BBC, said that this law was being framed keeping young adults in mind. “These rules are particularly aimed at young people as they are not always as aware as they could be about the consequence of putting photos and other information on social network websites, or about the various privacy settings available,” said spokesman Matthew Newman.

But there is no reason to cheer as of now. To be enforced, this law has to be first passed by all member nations, following which it has to be ratified by the European parliament. The whole process may take up to two years.

Until then, what do our readers have to say about “Right to be Forgotten”?

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