Episode 57: Internet Privacy and the “Right to Be Forgotten”

By Staff and Charley Moore | February 16, 2012

How far we've come from private journals you could just toss onto the fire when you didn't want the information around anymore...

Two podcasts this week? Yes, indeed, we couldn’t resist talking about the big happenings in politics and online privacy.

This episode we focus on the ongoing issue of how to balance and regulate free speech and privacy on the Internet. Specifically, we focus on the debate in Europe over the “right to be forgetten”, and we welcome guest, Professor Derek Bambauer from Brooklyn Law School to talk to us about one of his central interests: censorship.

We start with politics. It seems that Ron Paul might just win in Maine – really? Yes, and Romney is trailing Santorum in the fight for Michigan. Charley then explains why Michigan is such an interesting race — from the Tea Party constituents, to the Clint Eastwood Superbowl advert and the enduring importance of manufacturing and the automobile industry to Michigan and American confidence. The success of the automakers, who are posting record profits now, following the government “bailout,” leads us to wonder how the Republican candidates will square the success of government intervention with their opposition to same? Will the front runners, and their backers, focus on the substantive issues and arguments? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Then, in honor of Valentine’s day just past, we shout out to our article, Divide and Conquer: Do Love and Business Mix? From the Wynns to the McCourts, it’s an interesting read about businesses too close to home and heart.

Our real focus this week, however, is the conceptual “right to be forgotten” on the Internet. We set the table, and are then delighted to be joined by Professor Derek Bambauer. Having written about SOPA, and currently working on a piece for the Chicago Law Review — Orwell’s Armchair — about American censorship, Derek was a great guest.

We talk about Orwell’s “memory holes”, the burden of compliance on private companies, and how the EU is different from the US in its approach to privacy, for regular citizens and public figures. We also wonder how workable this particular proposal will be in a global setting, and more generally discuss how separate jurisdictions are still working out the policing of a borderless entity.

In the Rocket Docket, we give you our thoughts on the free speech : privacy balancing act.

Take a listen and tell us what you think.