If a search engine no longer can provide information, it is like having a library where books cannot be read. For example, if the family of a British Revolutionary War general — assuming the family had standing under an order like the CNIL’s — were to ask Google to “forget” about the general’s actions in the 18th century, we could lose access to the historical information previously available.
The highest c our t in the EU last year ordered Google to allow individuals there to request that certain specific information not be reported in Google search engine results, citing their “right to be forgotten.”
Since that court ruling, hundreds of thousands of EU residents have requested that Google eliminate certain information, and Google routinely has complied with many of those requests.