Fight against a NZ “right to be forgotten”

Stuff reports:

Privacy commissioner John Edwards has made a last-ditch plea to further toughen up an overhaul of the country’s privacy laws, telling MPs privacy was a “fundamental human right”. …

But Edwards said several big changes were needed, including a right commonly known as the “right to be forgotten” that would require others to erase personal information that was out of date, inaccurate or misleading, once asked, and to “personal information portability”.

The latter right would for example allow people to demand their personal information was transferred from one online service to another at their request, and could impact the likes of social media companies.

No problems with information portability but the so called “right to be forgotten” is a horrendous idea which basically forces Internet search engines or publishers to censor the Internet so that people with a past they wish to hide, can do so.

National MP Chris Bishop said the changes being sought by Edwards were “quite big” and questioned whether – if they were to be considered – they would need to go back out for public consultation, and whether the bill would need to be withdrawn and reworked. 

A right to be forgotten would be a massive change and would definitely need public consultation on. I’d be leading a fight against it.