Europe Gets a Google Eraser

Google has launched a service to allow Europeans to ask for personal data to be removed from online search results. The move comes after a landmark European Union court ruling earlier this month, which gave people the "right to be forgotten". Links to "irrelevant" and outdated data should be erased on request, it said. Google said it would assess each request and balance "privacy rights of the individual with the public's right to know and distribute information". "When evaluating your request, we will look at whether the results include outdated information about you, as well as whether there's a public interest in the information," Google says on the form which applicants must fill in. Google said it would look at information about "financial scams, professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public conduct of government officials" while deciding on the request. Earlier this month, the BBC learned that more than half of the requests sent to Google from UK individuals involved convicted criminals.