Eugene Woman Attacked With Acid for Third Time Since March
A Eugene, Oregon, woman who had acid thrown on her while walking her dog in March has been the target of two additional acid attacks at her home
Minimum Wage Increase Initiative Qualifies in WA City
An initiative to increase the minimum hourly wage in Tukwila, Washington, by more than has qualified for the November ballot.
Sydney McLaughlin Does It Again, Breaks Own World Record
When asked how she was going to celebrated afterward, McLaughlin joked: “Eating some real food besides vegetables. Like a cheeseburger or something, some pancakes.”
Inslee Seeks Abortion Rights Amendment to State Constitution
Gov. Jay Inslee will push for a state constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights within the state, and laws that make it difficult for other states to investigate whether their own residents have visited Washington for abortion care.
On View This Weekend: Afro-American Heritage Bicentennial Commemorative Quilt
A History Spotlight from Boyle Family Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk ...
More than 60,000 Oregon households facing pandemic hardship receive over 6 million in rental assistance relief ...
KGW and TEGNA Foundation Award $40k in Community Grants to Aid Four Oregon Nonprofit Organizations
Among the grant recipients are Urban Nature Partners PDX, Self Enhancement, Inc (SEI), Portland YouthBuilders (PYB), and p:ear. ...
Hawthorne, Morrison Bridges Will Close to Motorized Vehicles for July 4 Fireworks Show
The bridges will remain open for bicyclists and pedestrians. ...
Increased Emergency Snap Benefits Continue in July
Approximately 422,000 households will receive an estimated million in extra food benefits ...
Climber rescued after 700-foot fall on Mount Hood
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Happy Valley man was rescued after a 700-foot fall from the Old Chute area near the summit of Mount Hood, authorities wrote in a news release Sunday. Around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, a 43-year-old man climbing up a popular route up the mountain’s western face...
US testing new fire retardant, critics push other methods
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials are testing a new wildfire retardant after two decades of buying millions of gallons annually from one supplier, but watchdogs say the expensive strategy is overly fixated on aerial attacks at the expense of hiring more fire-line digging ground crews. ...
The constitutional originalists do what they must to keep ignorance viable, to keep us anchored to the certainties of the old days ...
Biden’s Menthol Ban Follows the ‘Racist Law’ Playbook
The ban on menthol threatens to do more harm than good for the Black people these activists purport to want to protect ...
Black Women Will Suffer the Harshest Consequences After the Overturn of Roe
Black women are nearly three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women and are more likely to face maternal health issues. ...
French soccer tournament celebrates diversity, fights racism
CRETEIL, France (AP) — An amateur soccer tournament in France aimed at celebrating ethnic diversity is attracting talent scouts, sponsors and increasing public attention, by uniting young players from low-income neighborhoods with high-profile names in the sport. The National...
Black Jewish leader works to boost community, inclusiveness
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nate Looney is a Black man who grew up in Los Angeles, a descendant of enslaved people from generations ago. He’s also an observant, kippah-wearing Jew. But he doesn’t always feel welcome in Jewish spaces — his skin color sometimes elicits questioning...
The long, ongoing debate over ‘All men are created equal’
NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Jennings is CEO of the Lambda Legal organization, a prominent advocate for LGBTQ rights. He sees his mission in part as fulfilling that hallowed American principle: “All men are created equal.” “Those words say to me, ‘Do better, America.’ And what I...
Sonny Barger, figurehead of Hells Angels, dies at 83
LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) — Sonny Barger, the leather-clad fixture of 1960s counterculture and figurehead of the Hells Angels motorcycle club who was at the notorious Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway, has died. He was 83. Barger's death was announced on his Facebook page...
Review: Austen-era schemes, dreams fill 'Mr. Malcolm's List'
“It is a truth universally acknowledged,” goes one of the more famous opening lines in English literature, “that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” That’s Jane Austen, beginning her 1813 “Pride and Prejudice.” Austen herself has...
Review: Imagine Dragons offer light at the end of the tunnel
“Mercury — Act 2,” Imagine Dragons (Interscope) If you were hiding under your bed after listening to the last album by Imagine Dragons, it's time to come out. The second volume of “Mercury” is upbeat, often Caribbean-spiced and throbbing. It's the sound of a band getting its...
US Navy offers cash for tips to seize Mideast drugs, weapons
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet is starting to offer rewards for...
Searchers rescue 4th person from China ship, 12 bodies found
HONG KONG (AP) — Rescue teams searching for missing crew members from a Chinese engineering ship that sank over...
Film reveals Macron’s diplomatic bids amid war in Ukraine
PARIS (AP) — “Vladimir .... tell me what your intentions are.” Four days before President...
How a favela in Rio got its clean water back, for ,300
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Butterflies and waxbills flit through the Enchanted Valley just outside Rio de Janeiro’s...
Germany: 101-year-old appeals conviction in Nazi guard case
BERLIN (AP) — A 101-year-old man who was convicted last week as an accessory to murder for serving as a guard at...
Film reveals Macron’s diplomatic bids amid war in Ukraine
PARIS (AP) — “Vladimir .... tell me what your intentions are.” Four days before President...
In this Oct. 17, 2012, file photo, a man raises his hand during at Google offices in New York. People should have some say over the results that pop up when they conduct a search of their own name online, Europe's highest court said Tuesday, May 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
AMSTERDAM (AP) — People should have some say over the results that pop up when they conduct a search of their own name online, Europe's highest court said Tuesday.
In a landmark decision, The Court of Justice of the European Union said Google must listen and sometimes comply when individuals ask the Internet search giant to remove links to newspaper articles or websites containing their personal information.
Though digital rights campaigners say the ruling by the top court in the 28-nation EU favors individual privacy rights over the freedom of information, there are questions as to how it will be put into practice and whether it will prompt a change in the way search engines operate globally.
In a judgment that will potentially impact on all search engines in Europe, including Yahoo and Microsoft's Bing, the court said a search on a person's name yields a results page that amounts to an individual profile. Under European privacy law, it said people should be able to ask to have links to private information in that 'profile' removed.
It is not clear how exactly the court envisions Google and others handling complaints, and Google said it is still studying the ruling, which cannot be appealed.
The referral to the European Court came from Spain's National Court, which asked for advice in the case of Mario Costeja, a Spaniard who found a search on his name turned up links to a notice that his property was due to be auctioned because of an unpaid welfare debt. The notice had been published in a Spanish newspaper in 1998, and was tracked by Google's robots when the newspaper digitalized its archive.
Costeja argued that the debt had long since been settled, and he asked the Spanish privacy agency to have the reference removed. In 2010 the agency agreed, but Google refused and took the matter to court, saying it should not be asked to censor material that had been legally published by the newspaper.
“It's a great relief to be shown that you were right when you have fought for your ideas, it's a joy,” Costeja told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “If Google was great before it's perfect now because there are game rules to go by.”
He said that “ordinary people will know where they have to go” to complain about bad or old information that turns up on a Google search.
Following the European ruling, Costeja's case will return to Spain for final judgment. There are 200 others in the Spanish docks, some of which may still prove difficult to decide. For instance: one involves a plastic surgeon who wants mentions of a botched surgery her performed removed from Google's results.
In its ruling, the European Court said people may address requests directly to the operator of the search engine “which must then duly examine its merits.”
The right is not absolute, as search engines must weigh “the legitimate interest of Internet users potentially interested in having access to that information” against the right to privacy and protection of personal data. When an agreement can't be reached, the Luxembourg-based court said the matter can be referred to a local judge or regulator.
Debates over the 'right to be forgotten' — to have negative information erased after a period of time — have surfaced across the world as tech users struggle to reconcile the forgive-and-forget nature of human relations with the unforgiving permanence of the electronic record.
Though the idea of such a right has generally been well-received in Europe, many in the U.S. have critiqued it as a disguised form of censorship that could allow convicts to delete references to past crimes or politicians to airbrush their records.
Alejandro Tourino, a Spanish lawyer who specializes in mass media issues, said the ruling was a first of its kind and “quite a blow for Google.”
“This serves as a basis for all members of the European Union, it is (a) most important ruling and the first time European authorities have ruled on the 'right to be forgotten,'“ said Tourino, who has worked for The Associated Press in several legal cases and is the author of “The Right to be Forgotten and Privacy on the Internet.”
Google spokesman Al Verney said Tuesday's ruling was “disappointing ... for search engines and online publishers in general.” The company, he said, will “now need to take time to analyze the implications.”
Some limited forms of a “right to be forgotten” exist in the U.S. and elsewhere — including in relation to crimes committed by minors or bankruptcy regulations, both of which usually require that records be expunged in some way.
Viviane Reding, the EU's top justice official, said in a Facebook posting that the ruling confirmed that “data belongs to the individual” and that unless there is a good reason to retain data, “an individual should be empowered by law to request erasure.”
However, Javier Ruiz, Policy Director at Open Rights Group, cautioned that authorities have to be careful in how they move forward.
“We need to take into account individuals' right to privacy,” he said. “But if search engines are forced to remove links to legitimate content that is already in the public domain ... it could lead to online censorship.”
He added the case has “major implications for all kind of internet intermediaries, not just search engines.”
Google currently advises users to approach websites that have published information about them as a first step in having it cleared from the Internet: once a site removes the content, Google's result links to the material will disappear soon after.
The Mountain View, California-based company also offers a guide to users on how best to approach having personal information removed from the web.
____
Online: https://support.google.com/websearch/troubleshooter/3111061
____
Associated Press reporters Ciaran Giles in Madrid and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this story.
A suprise hearing with newly discovered evidence will be held Tuesday, June 28 at 9:45 a.m. PT (12:45 p.m. ET).
Photos and slide shows of local events