The Right to Be Forgotten”

To briefly describe the “right to be forgotten”, it means that you will have the right to take down any private information on the internet you deemed to impact you negatively. However, this is provided that this information does not fall into a category that can be used to say that this information is allowed to be online.   

An example that exercises the need to be forgotten can be if a teenager or young child with a social media account posts what they think at the time to be a good photo, or good tweet that contains private information. As they grow up and determine they want it down for reasons such as the information is too private or that this photo is negatively impacting them. The “right to be forgotten” would most definitely be needed here as it would help the now older teenager to take control of the information they decided to post online when they were not fully developed yet to make good choices. 

An example against this would be Logan Paul show casing a dead body in one of his vlogs where he goes into a forest located in Japan where it was known to be a place many would commit suicide. This vlog was taken down but being the internet, many people of course saved in various forms. Logan Paul could say this is a right to be forgotten but I would argue no because this type of behaviour needs to be remembered and shared so that others can reflect on it and understand the negatives of doing such a thing. 

On the side of the “right to be forgotten” The argument is essentially what I said above with teenagers posting on social media. People post content all the time and some potentially could become to regret that choice. The “right to be forgotten” would allow the person to get rid of such a post, provided it was deemed to negatively impact them.  However, on the side against the “right to be forgotten” argues that when this happens, the usual case is that this content most likely has been shared or copied and posted elsewhere. How can we delete that information as well and better yet how can we trace them all. 

A simple scenario that would be very reasonable to the majority would be a teenager posting a picture of themselves online as they were young. A picture that one could use to create a meme for example. Years later they are older now and the picture gets picked up to be used as a meme and is now shared all over. The “right to be forgotten” could very much be helpful here if the older teen decides that this meme is negatively impacting them and they want it gone so their life is not affected. An unreasonable scenario for not deleting a post could be that of a criminal that did something very harsh and it is posted all over the news and social media. The majority would not agree to this being forgotten if years later he has changed and wanted it taken down. This type of information is public and should remain up as it could be considered a part of history for the future to review and talk about later.

If I was to appear before the parliament I would say that we should not tackle the issue as it happens. For example we should not be asking if the content should be taken down or not when the person is requesting it. We should be thinking of solutions to prevent such a situation from appearing. Educating our children to be more cautious of what they post, letting them realize what they post can and most likely stays on the internet forever. Making sure that news coverage and social posts are not posting very private information of a criminal as they report the crime committed. Finally, we should be having classes in school about social media posting and the consequences to consider.

Of the three policies mentioned, I think I would pick having classes in school for this. If more kids are aware of these things and actually put them into practice when considering posting content online, it could help prevent many regretful postings in the future. If the teachers can spin this lesson to be cool and modern then the kids would really be taking this seriously. Just to use cigarettes as an example, my peers and I never thought it was ever cool to smoke because we were aware of the dangers of it and how it affects us negatively healthwise. The same idea can be used for teaching children about posting online which would prevent any regretful posts from occurring or greatly reduce it.