Privacy and Its Discontents: The Exploitation of Shame and the Right to be Forgotten in the Global E-Village

Abstract

Since the introduction of new Webbased technologies in the early 21st century, Web 2.0 has presented two confl icting dilemmas for many of us. While we witness the unprecedented blossoming of user-generated content, there is also an urgent call for privacy protection. In particular, online shaming, exposure and social sanctions imposed by netizens have become popular and worrying. This phenomenon where citizens “engage in social policing by shaming transgressions via the Internet” has left victims often with little recourse through the avenues of defamation or privacy lawsuits. With the permanent memory of the Internet and an easily retrievable archival system, many also question whether the present Web technologies and its setup have violated the societal belief in giving second chances to people to begin a new life. Recently in November 2011, the European Union proposed reform of personal data protection by advocating the “right to be forgotten.” If this is implemented, inevitably this would have direct impact on Google, Youtube, Facebook and other social networking sites. Thus, through the study and analysis of the above phenomenon, and an examination of the “right to be forgotten,” I would like to explore the interrelationship between privacy, personality right, and freedom of expression from a legal and social perspective. My tentative argument is that: other than adopting a substantive human right based analysis, the protection of personality and personal data may be better protected through the due process of information management.