Home / Vol.16, n°2 / The right to be forgotten under European Law: a Constitutional debate

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.