A German murderer who was convicted of killing two people has gone to court to try and win the right to have his name wiped from the internet. Yep, he wants to be totally forgotten.
The case was thrown out when he first tried in 2012, but in news nobody expected, he took it to the high court and they said he does actually have that right.
It’s called the “right to be forgotten”, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s only a law in the European Union and Argentina, but if you win it then publications that have written about you legally have to restrict who can access their online archives.
I have two major problems with this.
One: The guy is a convicted murderer. He straight up shot two people on a yacht in 1982 and seriously hurt another person. He went to jail and was only released in 2002. Surely it’s in the public interest to know whether or not the person who lives next to you is someone who is prone to shooting people during an argument.
Two: Good luck with that one, buddy. The internet never forgets, and this particular case was high profile enough over in Germany that there have been books written about it and a whole documentary series made.
Look. If Beyonce couldn’t get that unflattering Super Bowl picture of her removed from the internet, there’s no way in hell anybody else can. Seriously. Do you honestly reckon you can pull off something that Beyonce couldn’t?
We’re in a world where technology is advancing at such a stupid fast rate, it’s probably fair to say that we’ve all lost control of the internet at this point.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you’re worried everyone will be able to Google the fact that you killed some people, maybe you should have thought about that before you murdered anyone? We’re not about to magically forget the fact that you’re a murderer, dude.
Just a suggestion.