The Right to be Forgotten?

MADRID -- Their ranks include a plastic surgeon, a prison guard and a high school principal. All are Spanish, but have little else in common except this: They want old Internet references about them that pop up in Google searches wiped away.

In a case that Google Inc. and privacy experts call a first of its kind, Spain's Data Protection Agency has ordered the search engine giant to remove links to material on about 90 people. The information was published years or even decades ago but is available to anyone via simple searches.

Scores of Spaniards lay claim to a "Right to be Forgotten" because public information once hard to get is now so easy to find on the Internet. Google has decided to challenge the orders and has appealed five cases so far this year to the National Court.

Some of the information is embarrassing, some seems downright banal. A few cases involve lawsuits that found life online through news reports, but whose dismissals were ignored by media and never appeared on the Internet. Others concern administrative decisions published in official regional gazettes.

In all cases, the plaintiffs petitioned the agency individually to get information about them taken down.

And while Spain is backing the individuals suing to get links taken down, experts say a victory for the plaintiffs could create a troubling precedent by restricting access to public information.

The issue isn't a new one for Google, whose search engine has become a widely used tool for learning about the backgrounds about potential mates, neighbors and co-workers. What it shows can affect romantic relationships, friendships and careers.

For that reason, Google regularly receives pleas asking that it remove links to embarrassing information from its search index or least ensure the material is buried in the back pages of its results. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., almost always refuses in order to preserve the integrity of its index.

A final decision on Spain's case could take months or even years because appeals can be made to higher courts. Still, the ongoing fight in Spain is likely to gain more prominence because the European Commission this year is expected to craft controversial legislation to give people more power to delete personal information they previously posted online.
Story continues below
Advertisement

"This is just the beginning, this right to be forgotten, but it's going to be much more important in the future," said Artemi Rallo, director of the Spanish Data Protection Agency. "Google is just 15 years old, the Internet is barely a generation old and they are beginning to detect problems that affect privacy. More and more people are going to see things on the Internet that they don't want to be there."

Many details about the Spaniards taking on Google via the government are shrouded in secrecy to protect the privacy of the plaintiffs. But the case of plastic surgeon Hugo Guidotti vividly illustrates the debate.

In Google searches, the first link that pops up is his clinic, complete with pictures of a bare-breasted women and a muscular man as evidence of what plastic surgery can do for clients. But the second link takes readers to a 1991 story in Spain's leading El Pais newspaper about a woman who sued him for the equivalent of euro5 million for a breast job that she said went bad.


Article Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/21/right-to-be-forgotten-google-spain_n_851891.html

-- About 8snaps.com --
Our mission is to provide children with a happier, safer childhood. We have created an online anti-cyberbullying service for parents and schools which makes it simple to monitor children’s online activities. Visit http://8snaps.com/

19% admit Web use while driving

About one in five drivers admitted in an informal online survey to surfing the Internet while behind the wheel despite a national campaign to curb distracted driving, according to insurance giant State Farm.

* Some drivers say they access the Internet when they are stopped at a light or stuck in traffic.

By John Spink, Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

Some drivers say they access the Internet when they are stopped at a light or stuck in traffic.




Some drivers say they access the Internet when they are stopped at a light or stuck in traffic.




State Farm, which found the dangerous behavior in the unscientific survey of 912 licensed drivers in November, says it will conduct a detailed study this year.

In the November survey, more than 19% reported accessing the Internet on a cellphone at least once a week while driving. That compares with 74% who reported making or receiving calls at least once weekly while driving and 35% who reported sending or receiving text messages at least that frequently.

"That 19% might be underestimating the actual use of smartphones to access the Internet while driving, because the majority of the respondents were in the age range of the 30s," says Cindy Garretson, director of auto technology research at State Farm. "The largest users of cellphones tend to be the younger-age population. We would be very interested to know what that number would be if the focus was on the young adult market."

Most surfing drivers say they do so while stopped at a traffic light or stopped in traffic. Sean Black, 38, of Springfield, Ill., says he often surfs the Internet while driving. "I don't read in-depth stuff, but I Web and drive," he says. "I'll check different stuff about sports. I'm not saying it's the smartest thing in the world ... but I guess I just do it anyway."

Black, communications coordinator for the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says his wife, Jennifer, abhors the practice but he doesn't know what it would take to get him to stop. "The easy answer would be an accident or near-accident," he says. "But part of me wonders, depending on how bad it would be, if even that would do it. I think it's one of those things where you just don't think anything's going to happen."

*
ROAD DISTRACTIONS: Most teens texting, talking

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has made distracted driving a major focus. Last year, 11 states enacted bans on texting while driving; 30 states prohibit it for all drivers, and eight more have banned it for novice drivers.

In 2009, 5,474 people were killed and 448,000 injured in distracted driving crashes; 18% of the fatalities involved cellphones as a distraction, and the under-20 age group was the most heavily involved, federal data show.

Dakota Woodward, 16, of Crestview, Fla., says he knew of efforts against distracted driving but kept accessing the Internet while driving until last December, when he was in a near-crash while updating his Facebook status on his iPhone. "I was updating my status, telling everybody where I was going," Woodward says. "I was still looking at my phone, trying to look at the road at the same time."

"I think our generation is just so technologically advanced, and we need to keep in touch all the time," says Woodward, a sophomore at Crestview High School.

"I don't look at my phone anymore," he says. "It's more important to keep my eyes on the road and my hands on the wheel than to text somebody back, or update my status, or see what somebody else is doing on Facebook. It scared me so much, I don't text and drive or Facebook and drive anymore, or do anything with my phone."


Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-03-02-surfing02_ST_N.htm?csp=34tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-TechTopStories+%28Tech+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

-- About 8snaps.com --
Our mission is to provide children with a happier, safer childhood. We have created an online anti-cyberbullying service for parents and schools which makes it simple to monitor children’s online activities. Visit http://8snaps.com/

Bully victim suprised by his idols

PHILADELPHIA -- Who says the Philadelphia Eagles are through with national television until next season?

Receiver DeSean Jackson, and two other Eagles, made a surprise visit Thursday on ABC's "The View." They took the stage, and greeted guest Nadin Khoury, 13, of Upper Darby, Pa., with an Eagles No. 10 Jackson autographed jersey.

Jackson, as well as guard Todd Herremans and center Jamaal Jackson, were there to show their support for Khoury, who was bullied by a group of seven attackers last month, one of which videotaped the incident.

Jamaal Jackson presented a gift basket, and Herremans offered Eagles tickets to a game of Khoury's choice next season.


Article Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/03/desean-jackson-nadin-khoury-the-view_n_818383.html

-- About 8snaps.com --
Our mission is to provide children with a happier, safer childhood. We have created an online anti-cyberbullying service for parents and schools which makes it simple to monitor children’s online activities. Visit http://8snaps.com/

Kids consult on campaign to Cure The Bullies.

Australian school children were recently involved in creating a web-based campaign aimed at identifying bystander behaviours that enable online bullying.

“Cure the bullies” was created in partnership with SchoolAid (a national Australian schools-based philanthropy network that empowers kids to help kids in crisis) and the Vodafone Foundation.



CureBulliesVisitors to the Cure The Bullies site are invited to take a test to “diagnose” their bullying behaviour, and then view their bottled creature in a public gallery. (Identifying names of kids or schools are not used on the creatures labels.)

According to the site, “the Bullies are nasty, highly contagious viruses that lurk in cyberspace, infecting young cyber citizens with unacceptable online behaviours”.


Article Source: http://cyberbullyingforum.org/?p=765

-- About 8snaps.com --
Our mission is to provide children with a happier, safer childhood. We have created an online anti-cyberbullying service for parents and schools which makes it simple to monitor children’s online activities. Visit http://8snaps.com/