Privacy watchdogs across Asia may push for 'right to be forgotten' online

Privacy watchdogs across the Asia-Pacific region are holding out the possibility of taking collective action to press for individuals' "right to be forgotten" after what made them news becomes outdated, according to Hong Kong's privacy commissioner.

Allan Chiang Yam-wang also downplayed concerns that allowing people to ask for links on search engines to be deleted would inhibit freedom of information and erase history.

He urged critics of such a mandate to keep an "open mind" and to discuss the issue more constructively.

"While no concrete action has been contemplated, the possibility of further collective action is not ruled out either," Chiang wrote in a blog post. Seeking talks with search providers was one possible step, he told the Post.

In May, the European Union's top court affirmed the rights of individuals to ask search giant Google to remove links to data about them that was inadequate, irrelevant, outdated or excessive for its purpose. The European Court of Justice's decision awaits passage into European law.

The EU has also issued guidelines on what search engines must consider before entertaining a request, such as whether the person is a public figure and whether the information is about his work rather than private life.

Chiang, who had been pushing for Hong Kong to apply the same right, said yesterday that the alarm bells were "overblown", and that "the right to be forgotten is not absolute".