Hong Kong’s privacy chief amplifies call for Google to extend ‘right to be forgotten’

The privacy chief has renewed his call for Google to provide its "right to be forgotten" globally - including in Hong Kong - as international pressure mounts on the internet search giant to apply the new safeguard beyond Europe.

Allan Chiang Yam-wang called on Google to pioneer a "borderless service" and adopt a "non-discriminatory approach" to applying the privacy right.

"We now live in a global village. … There must be a significant number of UK passport-holders among the Hong Kong population," Chiang said yesterday "Could they not invoke the EU legislation and exercise their right to be de-indexed?" he asked.

His call was in response to a new form set up by Google to take removal requests in Europe in compliance with a ruling last month by the European Court of Justice that individuals had the right to ask for removal of links to information about them that was "inadequate, irrelevant, no longer relevant or excessive".

Despite opposition from marketing and internet interests in Hong Kong, the privacy commissioner argued the search giant should face the issue globally.

"Similar cases will soon be heard in Canada as well as in Japan … Future court rulings outside the EU may oblige Google to provide the service," he wrote on his blog yesterday.

"It makes good customer service and business competitiveness sense for Google to demonstrate its privacy friendliness by pioneering a borderless service," he said.