Google Inc.’s share price up, loses a landmark case, must remove links, names and data when requested to

Google Inc. may be asked to remove personal information from its search engine, after losing a landmark case. The case was related to the limits of data privacy on the territory of Europe and losing it means that the company may be obliged to delete links to news articles, documents and other personal information as the European union highest court decided that search engine users have a “right to be forgotten”.

The European Court of Justice made a statement on its ruling today, explaining that “links and information in the list of results must be erased” in case that the major rights of a person are harmed and if the published information is not a matter of interest of the society. Google may be asked to remove personal information under certain circumstances.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the European Court of Justice explained that the balance may “depend, in specific cases, on the nature of the information in question and its sensitivity for the data subjects private life”. It also said that the public interest “may vary, in particular, according to the role played by the data subject in public life”.

The European Court of Justice found search engine companies responsible for storing, processing and displaying personal data in their search results. That is why it ruled that Google Inc. must respond and cooperate in cases it gets users requests to remove some private information, which may turn out to be harmful.

In case the search engine refuses to accomplish a certain legitimate demand of some of the companys users, individuals can ask a court or data protection authority to step in.

Google Inc. shared that it finds the tribunal ruling disappointing. The company also added that it needs some time to take into consideration the consequences of the ruling.

Google Inc. was 2.24% up to close at 538.43 dollars per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of +22.22%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 41 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Google Inc. have a median target of 665.00, with a high estimate of 750.00 and a low estimate of 525.00. The median estimate represents a +23.51% increase from the last price of 538.43.