[LINK] The Right to Be Forgotten

[Roger Clarke]

At 10:00 +1100 29/1/12, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>On LinkedIn, I m connected to a friend who died nearly three years ago.
>I doubt that anyone has his password and maybe his family doesn't even
>know of the existence of his LinkedIn account. I don't even know if I
>can unlink to him.

Years ago, I bemoaned the loss of heritage, because (under the model 
practised by ISPs, and by universities) once an account is closed, 
everything is deleted, and not even archived.

We've since seen such variants as:

-   Pandora, which is largely unempowered and unfunded and hence
     has to be selective.  For example, it can't even archive the
     web-sites of defunct agencies (but is a great service!)

-   archive.org, which is sporadic, and a bit hit-and-miss, and
     doesn't appear to be open to free-text search  (but ditto!)

-   university alumni sites, which may turn into memorial sites
     given that their sole purpose is to raise money for the Uni.
     (Staff and visitors/adjuncts - and non-completed students -
     generally don't get the same offer, unless they're also alumni)

-   voyeurism-driven 'social media' sites, whose business model
     depends on rapaciousness of personal data, which much prefer
     volume to relevance, and which don't have any kind of business
     driver for such concepts as deletion or the rights of executors,
     trustees and beneficiaries


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
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Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law               University of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University