Xiaojing Li
BUAD 501-08
5/6/2015

Case 2: The Right to Be Forgotten in Business

Strategic Issues and Problems
In 2014, the ruling by the European Union's Court of Justice requiring Google to grant the right to be forgotten ignited a discussion in the United States. One part of the argument supports the right to be forgotten because privacy has been eroded by modern technology and the Internet. American law has not adapted to the changes caused by the Internet. The other part of the argument is against the right to be forgotten because it might remove invaluable commercial information on which investors depend to make decisions. This has caused an intense debate between the right to privacy and the right to freedom of expression.

Evaluation and Analysis
It is possible to find a balance between the right to be forgotten and the right to freedom of speech. Especially, considering so much privacy has been threatened, privacy protection measures should be taken immediately. However, the current American privacy and free expression laws are suited to the times of paper-based media. They ignore the situation that web-based information can be accessed by the public forever. Europe's highest court's ruling to protect privacy in Europe actually has set a good example to the United States. Even though the right to be forgotten might impede the business intelligence in some cases, new laws could define what information is related to businesses and require the business-related information to be disclosed to public.

A lot of people in the United States still don't realize their privacy has eroded on Internet. Their personal records, such as criminal records, drunk pictures and even revenge porn videos, could be easily posted and found at any time by their employers or their loved ones. Especially, some malicious searching and postings have been eroding basic ethical values. It is necessary to wake up the privacy protection awareness against these illegal and unethical behaviors.

Alternatives
Enactment of new laws is imperative. The United State's supreme court could give a ruling to grant the right to be forgotten in America. Also, it could give the criteria to distinguish the business related information and non-business related information. Such ruling could not only help protect individual privacy but also not hinder the business intelligence. However, release of a new ruling is time-consuming. It has to pass many steps of approvals and can't resolve the urgent demand for privacy protection.

Alternatively, legal programs on TV and Internet could publicize and spread more knowledge on piracy to enhance Internet users' privacy protection awareness against online unethical information. Reporters who are specialized in the topic of online privacy could do more investigation and issue articles to arouse public attentions and encourage privacy protection. However, this might take even longer time to make most of people realize the threats.

Plan of Action
That the Supreme Court gives a ruling is more feasible than counting on improvement of public awareness. Even though the ruling need some time to release, the court could give some temporary rulings first aiming at urgent and typical cases. Such temporary rulings could serve as examples to guide people to determine whether their privacy right is violated and whether some business-related information should be publicized.