Internet and the right to digital oblivion

Abstract

The tracking of the individual is henceforth an unprecedented facet with participatory or collaborative sites such as blogs, discussion forums, video platforms and social networks. The exposure of personal data with the consent of the interested parties or not is also due to journalistic practices, with the advent of the electronic press. Based on these findings, the article discusses, from the perspective of Law, Communication and Archives, tensions and problems arising from the right of access to information and the right to privacy. It problematizes the issue of the right to be forgetten in its different dimensions and operational modalities in the digital world. It presents the French and European Union regulations and discusses some concrete examples. It concludes that the “Achilles tendon” of the internet remains the protection of personal data and that the vulnerability of the individual is aggravated by the viral dissemination of information on the network, highlighting the importance of self-regulation, the need for an information policy and clarification of Internet users, awareness campaigns and mechanisms for flagging violations. It also points to the need for a policy of security and processing of personal data, aiming in particular at the deadlines for online dissemination, indexing, referencing and file management.