Google has launched an online form to comply with a recent European Union court ruling requiring search engines to provide a way for people to request the removal of certain links from search results. The form allows EU residents to petition Google to remove specific URLs from search results by providing their name, email, photo ID and URLs to be removed. Google will review each request individually to balance privacy rights and public access to information, and will not necessarily remove all information, such as details about crimes or financial scams.

1. Google Launches 'Right To Be Forgotten' Request Form
 BY STEPHANIE MLOT
 MAY 30, 2014 09:45AM EST

The application requests a home country, name, email,
and list of URLs to be removed, as well as valid photo
ID.

2. You may not be able to hide from your past, but now
you can delete it from the Internet - in the EU, at least.
A recent ruling from the Court of Justice of the
European Union called on Google to provide a way for
people to request that their information be removed
from the search engine. As a result, Google this week
published a search removal request form.

3. The online application allows residents of the EU's 28
member states to petition for certain links to be
removed from the search engine's results.
The case dates back to 1998, when a large Spanish
daily newspaper published an article about Mario
Costeja Gonzalez's social security debts. When the
paper's archives were later published online, the man
discovered that a search for his name produced the
article.

4. Despite his attempts, both the newspaper publisher
and Google refused to remove the story or the direct
link, so he filed a complaint with the Spanish data
protection authorities, which led to a 2010 order for
Google to remove mention of his name from search
results.
The Web giant appealed, and in June 2013 won a case
in the EU's Central Court of Justice, which found that
search engines were not required to remove such
links, provided that publication of the data is legal.

5. That decision was overturned, however, earlier this
month, in what Google called "a disappointing ruling for
search engines and online publishers in general."
Still an "initial effort," the online application requires
details including your home country, full name, email
address, and list of URLs to be removed. Users will
also need a valid form of photo ID, in an effort for
Google to crack down on fraudulent removal requests.

6. "We will assess each individual request and attempt to
balance the privacy rights of the individual with the
public's right to know and distribute information,"
Google explained.
Don't expect your petition to automatically result in a
clean Web slate. Information about financial scams,
professional malpractice, criminal convictions, or public
conduct of government officials, for example, may not
make the cut.

7. Gonzalez, meanwhile, might be pleased with the
outcome, but Google executive chairman Eric Schmii
not; he said recently that the European court made a
mistake.