Headline, May22, 2014

''' The Ruling ''- 

THE INTERNET PRIVACY-'' 

The European Union '''

IN THE RULING, the panel of  13 judges at European Court of Justice in Luxembourg not only gave no guidance on how their ruling was to be carried out-

The also gave no indication that they recognized the  Pandora's box  their ruling might open. The decision focused narrowly on the legal ruling that: 

Google  as a  ''controller''  of information, is bound by European privacy law to heed private citizens' requests to remove links,  when requested,  absent a compelling public in leaving them up.

''The judges aren't digitally  sa.. v... v.. y,'' said Patrick van Eecke, a data protection lawyer at DLA Piper in Brussels who has argued cases before the court and echoed the views of other lawyers:

Who have argued technology cases there. ''It will be very difficult to put this legal ruling into practice.''

A spokesman for Google, which holds an  85%  share of the  digital search market in Europe,  declined to comment  or  speculate on how the company's European operations would be affected.

But legal experts and analysts said  Google  and others would probably have to create new procedures, involving new administrative offices, to process individual petitions for removing links.

''It may be very disruptive for search engines  going forward,''  said Luca Schiavoni, a technology analyst at the research company Ovum in London.

Google and other digital companies covered by the decision could try to restrict efforts to erase online content to just Europe,  legal experts said,  but it might more practical    -and cheaper  -to simplify remove links across all their worldwide platforms.

However they respond, the companies could find themselves wrestling with a quagmire of international legal issues.

European consumers, for example, would be covered by European laws, in which free speech and privacy typically have a fairly equal standing.

Under proposed stronger   data-protection standards,  any global company, even if it had a physical presence in Europe,  would have to follow those rules if its services were used by European consumers.

But Americans seeking to play the  European privacy card   might find themselves restrained  by the   free speech laws    of the United States.

The European court got involved in the case when  Spain's   data regulator  sought its guidance after  Google refused to remove links to a  Spanish Lawyer's tax and debt information.

But  Google has already faced a number of requests across  Europe to take information  down,  for a variety of legal reasons.

In Germany.  for instance, Google already blocks links to content that promotes Fascist principles.

But never before has Google,  or any  other  Internet search provider, faced the prospect of handling....... so many demands for unlinking  online content that the new European ruling may have unleashed.

''This move looks difficult to enforce on a large scale,''  said Mr Schiavoni, the Ovum analyst.

Of course, of course  :  One ruling on Internet privacy;  28 separate E.U. regulators?!

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