Right to be forgotten (online)

[Tonitrus]

That's just what you want us to think, Reverend A. Rodriguez. 

Bah. My real name's kind of an open secret, since it's so common it wouldn't do anybody any good to know it.  Also, another hint: this guy was drafted into MLB in 2002.

Yeah, I have the same name as an actor and two politicians. It takes a lot of pages of google results to get to me.

The best I can do is a former NBA player/now assistant coach.

[dps]

It's a sensible idea, but it's also a bit like putting a genie back in the bottle.  The very good, and very bad, thing about information is that the cost of copying it and distributing it is nearly zero.  If you want privacy, the only thing you can really do is change your name to John Smith.

The thing is, where does it end?  If you let people force google to remove links to embarassing info about them, do you next try to force the sites those links lead to to remove the information as well?   And then go to print newspapers and force them to purge their archives, and TV news operations to erase old video?

[Slargos]

It's a sensible idea, but it's also a bit like putting a genie back in the bottle.  The very good, and very bad, thing about information is that the cost of copying it and distributing it is nearly zero.  If you want privacy, the only thing you can really do is change your name to John Smith.

The thing is, where does it end?  If you let people force google to remove links to embarassing info about them, do you next try to force the sites those links lead to to remove the information as well?   And then go to print newspapers and force them to purge their archives, and TV news operations to erase old video?

Removing it from the search engines is a pretty huge step and makes the information far less accessible. I don't think it's an unreasonable request even if I doubt the possibility of practically implementing it for mass use.

[Martinus]

Googling my name brings up a marketing specialist, a nerd, a drunken fratboy and a right wing Drudge-style blogger.

I used to come up first on Google few months ago. Is my: fame slipping?

[Eddie Teach]

Googling my name brings up a marketing specialist, a nerd, a drunken fratboy and a right wing Drudge-style blogger.

I used to come up first on Google few months ago. Is my: fame slipping?

Maybe your schizo tendencies have been acting out. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Not in UK google..........still #1 

[Camerus]

Googling my name reveals hundreds of thousands of matches, including a guy who lives in my city and has the same profession as me.   

[Malthus]

Googling my name reveals hundreds of thousands of matches, including a guy who lives in my city and has the same profession as me.   

A doppelgänger! 

[The Brain]

I lead a virtuous life.

[Caliga]

hehe, not sure if I've mentioned it on here before, but when I was growing up I had a quasi-doppelganger living near me.  He was some kid in a Boy Scout troop in either my county or the neighboring one.  Whenever we'd go to jamborees and shit like that kids from his troop, as well as leaders, were always mistaking me for him and vice versa.  The odd thing is that I never actually met him....

[Slargos]

Googling my name reveals hundreds of thousands of matches, including a guy who lives in my city and has the same profession as me.   

A doppelgänger! 

Or, you know, PP. 

[dps]

Think I've mentioned this before, but back when I lived in Hillsville, my doctor had another patient with the same name as mine, including the same middle name, and the same date of birth.  The doctor's office had to use our Social Security numbers and addresses to tell us apart.

BTW, my facebook page comes up first when I google my name if I include my middle name.  Otherwise, I'm way down on the list, even if I include my middle initial.

[merithyn]

It's a sensible idea, but it's also a bit like putting a genie back in the bottle.  The very good, and very bad, thing about information is that the cost of copying it and distributing it is nearly zero.  If you want privacy, the only thing you can really do is change your name to John Smith.

Or Mary Williams.

[DontSayBanana]

Interesting way to see how common your name really is:

http://howmanyofme.com/search/

There are approximately 3,400 people with my name in the US, according to this.  And that's not including an alternate way to spell my last name that I generally see as valid.

[Maximus]

There are "1 or fewer" people in the U.S. with my name.

The estimates for one or both names are not absolute. There may be fewer people with this name, or none at all. Click here for more details.