The right to oblivion in Internet: background and bases for its legal configuration

Abstract

In recent times it has been gaining ground the so-called "right to oblivion" (or the right to be forgotten) by which a person requires to remove from Internet some news, data or image which, over time, has lost topicality without but which continues being easily accessible to anyone who asks for the name of the person referred to. With a growing acceptance at the European Community level, such right provokes resistance in the Anglo-Saxon media by the greater weight the latter often grants to freedom of expression. This paper describes what appears to be an evolution of this figure in three stages up to the current right to oblivion on the Internet or digital, with comments on the first sentence of the Chilean Supreme Court affirming the existence of this right as an emanation of the right to respect a person's private life and honor. It is argued that this right is being formed though it can not be absolute but must be reconciled with other rights and fundamental values of a democratic society. The proportionality principle (minimal intervention) can help determine the ways of implementing this right in order to serve the interests of those who want "to be forgotten" without disproportionately harming freedom of expression and access to information.