Mario Costeja, the Spaniard who defeated Google at the European Court of Justice in his quest to have his personal data erased, said today that he was satisfied but warned against the risks of a too-broad a ruling.
The European Court of Justice ruled yesterday that any individual has the right to remove his/her personal data on search engines when the information they link to deals with events lacking public significance or may cause damage for the individual.
The ruling was the result of 15 years of efforts by Costeja, who found a link on Google to La Vanguardia newspaper where a notice had been published years before, about an auction due to non-payment of his property.
Interviewed by the Spanish newspaper El Publico, Costeja said that he was satisfied but that he did not agree with a broad removal of data since he had fought to remove only data that affected dignity, human rights and honor.
He said that it was wrong that a politician sentenced for embezzlement could now use the right of removal ruling to wipe away such data.
The European Court of Justice ordered that Internet search engines like Google must remove information posted in the past if it is proven harmful for any person or lacks significance. (PL)