Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the internet, has condemned a central plank of European proposals to regulate the internet as impractical to enforce and 'terrifying' in prospect. Mr Cerf, often called the father of the internet, said that the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ online was “not possible to achieve”. He told The Telegraph, “You can’t go out and remove content from everybody’s computer just because you want the world to forget about something. I don’t think it’s a practical proposition at all.”
European regulators have yet to clarify precisely what their “right to be forgotten” would mean, but European Commissioner Viviane Reding has said that she expects it to give web users new controls over information, such as posts or pictures on social networks, that appears about them online. It raises the prospect of Facebook or Google, where Mr Cerf now works, being forced to ensure images or posts that an individual objects to are no longer accessible on the web.
Britain's Deputy Information Commissioner David Smith recently told a seminar for lawyers that he had "difficulty in working out what the new rights are", saying the right to be forgotten contained "an element of political gesturing". Read More
