A Challenge for Data Protection and Information Security: Charting the future of the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ under European Law

Few weeks ago I had the incredible pleasure to take part in the 8th Korea Communications Conference held in Seoul on 15 and 16 May, 2012. The 8th Korea Communications Conference was hosted by the Korea Communications Commission to diagnose the current industry development by analyzing media convergence trends and to suggest new plans and vision for market businesses. This Conference brought together experts and policy-makers who shared their experience and insight for promotion in broadcasting and communications and to provide recent business information of the global market.

I spoke about the so-called right to be forgotten, which has several consequences involving both Information Privacy Rights and Information Security. You can see the full text of my keynote here, in which I sketched out the European perspective about one of the most challenging topics for the future of Law and Technology. 

You can also see my Powerpoint presentation here.

Some journalist have summarized and disseminated the main thesis of my presentation. See here. 

Finally I want to sincerely thank the Korea Communications Commission and the Korea Internet and Security Agency for their kind invitation to take part in this excellent forum which has been the 8th Korea Communications Conference. It was for me a pleasure to be there speaking at such a great audience.

That's a photo taken in Coex Centre of Seoul, in which I appear with Eric Ashdown, Asia Chief Security Advisor of Microsoft, who gave a keynote about privacy and security issues in cloud computing systems in the same panel in which I took part. 

El régimen constitucional del derecho al olvido digital

Ya se puede adquirir mi libro titulado "El régimen constitucional del derecho al olvido digital", con prólogo de Xavier Arbós Marín, Catedrático de Derecho Constitucional de la Universitat de Barcelona (UB). Aquí está el enlace para comprar el libro desde la página de la editorial Tirant lo Blanch.

Aquí podéis consultar el índice, el prólogo de Xavier Arbós Marín y la introducción del trabajo. Espero vuestros comentarios y opiniones!

Open publication - Free publishing

Participación en la Jornada "Derecho y Protección de Datos en la Era Digital"

Este viernes que viene, día 25 de mayo de 2012, tendré el placer de participar en la Jornada DERECHO Y PROTECCIÓN DE DATOS EN LA ERA DIGITAL, que se celebrará en la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

En este enlace podéis consultar el programa definitivo.


Hablaré sobre el derecho al olvido digital y de la propuesta de Reglamento General de Protección de Datos de la Unión Europea. Si os interesa el tema, podéis visualizar mi presentación prezi aquí.

The right to be forgotten under European Law: a Constitutional debate

Few months ago I published an article in Lex Electronica: Revue du Centre de Recherche en Droit Public. It is an international journal of Technology Law, which depends of the Research Centre in Public Law of the University of Montreal.

In this article I distinguished different fields where the right to be forgotten could be applied. In the field of the social networks the individuals have the right to delete their personal data if it was published without their consent. Moreover, in Europe, the individuals have the right to revoke their consent and thus having the opportunity to demand the person in charge of social networks to delete their personal data, even when his data was published by the data owner. In the field of government official journals or media digital libraries this topic arises in a manner much different. The personal data contained in these documents is public; nonetheless the French and Spanish Data Protection Agencies are stating that the right to be forgotten also could mean the right to object the treatment that search engines give of this information.

This is the paper abstract in English:

This paper sketches out the European perspective about one of the most important challenges that Internet and web 2.0 involve for privacy and data protection rights. The author describes issues related to digital memory and distinguishes among several cases in which individuals would be interested to call for oblivion: in social networks, in official journals of government and in digital libraries of the media. He then traces the history of the recognition of the right to be forgotten which has been defined basically by French, Italian and Spanish Data Protection Agencies. Finally, he put his eyes on a new European framework of data protection in which will be included the right of individuals to have their data no longer processed and deleted when they are no longer needed for legitimate purposes.

This is the paper abstract in French: 

Cet article met en lumière la perspective européenne sur un des plus importants défis que l’Internet et le Web 2.0 présente pour la vie privée et le droit à la protection des données. L’auteur y soulève des problématiques liées à la mémoire numérique et distingue à partir de plusieurs cas où les individus seraient intéressés de réclamer l'oubli tant dans les réseaux sociaux, les journaux officiels des gouvernements et dans les bibliothèques médiatiques numériques. Il trace l’histoire de l’identification du droit à l’oubli dont les fondements ont été définis par les agences françaises, italiennes et espagnoles de protection des données. En conclusion, il pose son regard sur un nouveau cadre européen de la protection des données comprenant le droit individuel à voir leurs données supprimées lorsqu’elles ne sont plus nécessaires à des fins légitimes.

You can download the full text of the article here.

I hope you enjoy reading it and I’m waiting for your comments!