Google Joins Digital-Rights Activists to Wage Free-Speech Fight in Mexico Laurence Iliff - WSJ.com
go to original May 30, 2015

Free-speech advocates are up in arms over a ruling against Google Mexico that they say opens the door for politicians and business moguls to abuse the so-called right to be forgotten by wiping out Internet links that cast them in a negative light.

The Google Inc. unit and local digital-rights activists are fighting in court to overturn a recent ruling by Mexico's Federal Institute for the Access to Information, or IFAI. In late February, the institute came down on the side of a transportation scion who wants three links removed that contain negative comments about his family's business dealings - including a government bailout of bad loans.

The ruling follows a precedent set in Europe one year ago known as "the right to be forgotten." Proponents say the European model allows people to regain their privacy in a hyperconnected world, while critics say it encourages a whitewash of the past.

Both the European Union and Mexico have exceptions to Internet privacy rules if the information is in the public interest. The IFAI, however, didn't apply the exception, arguing that Google didn't make its case.

...Already, the ruling in Mexico has sparked other claims. A former northern border state governor is petitioning a newspaper website to remove a photo of his muscular torso, citing his right to privacy. A Spanish company named Eliminalia, which specializes in fighting to remove links on the Internet, has opened a unit in Mexico and says it has a roster of high-profile clients. On the company website, it says: "We erase your past."

Activists for an open Internet say that targeting Google Mexico is like trying to remove the card catalog in a library so no one can find books that might contain valuable history lessons.

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