From the opinion: "Last month the European Commission proposed adding a new “right to be forgotten” to privacy law. This deceptively simple idea is a ticking time-bomb in the booming internet economy. It is also essential – both for Europeans and Americans – to protect personal privacy in the age of pervasive social media and cloud computing…. Google, by gaining the consent of its users in the form of a quick tick, has secured the power to build an electronic surveillance apparatus that far exceeds anything the Bush administration tried to do. A right to be forgotten would make the counterterrorism mission harder. My support for it, however, comes from my recent experience as a parent…. Establishing such a right would, however, impose uneven economic costs. Companies that depend on monetising user data, such as Google and Facebook, would be badly hit. Old-fashioned technology companies – those that charge for hardware, software or services – would suffer less. We can expect lobbying from both sides. The debate will be rich with irony because so many of the new companies posture as paladins of liberty and social progress." Read more
