Practical Obscurity / Right to be Forgotten

What is Practical Obscurity

The principle that private information in public records is effectively protected from disclosure as the result of practical barriers to access, such as travel to view the record. When the records are published on the internet, those barriers are taken away, therefore becoming more accessible to people globally. By making the data and records easier to access, the privacy and difficulty to follow people is removed, making the people more vulnerable.

How has this changed in the digital age

it exists as a part of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),Under this new data protection rule, you will have the right to have your personal data held by a company erased if that data is no longer needed for your engagement with that company or if you withdraw your consent for them to use it. For example, you can ask an online retailer to delete all of your account information and your purchasing history with them, but only if you no longer want to shop with them. They would not be able to process your order if they didn’t know things like your name and address.

What is the right to be forgotten

It is where data that is no longer needed must be immediately erased and forgotten as there are now no legal grounds to continue possession of the data without consent.

Right to be forgotten examples

An example of something that should really be forgotten or moved on from is perhaps if somebody says a short phrase and the fact they have said it is recorded, and now later on somebody else has an issue with that person, they can use the fact they said the phrase to paint the person in a bad light and make people hate them. This is perhaps a bad thing because the person may even regret saying the phrase and changed their mind since that point.