Dear All,
I just wanted to reassure Brunella and other people on the list that there is certainly not a particular "line" which researchers at the University of Oxford take on the "right to be forgotten" - or indeed other aspects of Data Protection. Such an approach would be antithetical to the very idea of a university. It is true that there are people such as Viktor Mayer-Schönberger who support the idea but others - not limited to Bill Dutton - are much more sceptical. The transcripts ((http://www.csls.ox.ac.uk/conferences/oxpilsconference2012/seminars.php) of the conference also show very diverse views on this subject not only in the session including Bill but in others also (e.g. the session with Anthony House from Google).
The conference was styled "The ‘Right to be Forgotten’ and Beyond: Data Protection and Freedom of Expression in the Age of Web 2.0" to reflect three things (1) that rightly or wrongly the idea of a right to be forgotten had become a primary modality for discussing how DP and free speech should be reconciled/balanced especially in Web 2.0 (and this right was now included in the EU Draft Regulation), (2) that, despite this, a number of people were sceptical of the idea and in any case invocation of this right could only be part of way in which a reconciliation/balancing could be attempted, and (3) that even if the right to be forgotten was fundamentally misconceived the need to find such a reconciliation/balance would remain and was becoming more urgent.
Thanks,
David
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brunella Longo
Sent: 23 October 2012 18:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Transcripts from OxPILS "The "Right to be Forgotten" and Beyond: DP and Freedom of Expression in the Age of Web 2.0" now available
Simon
What Bill Dutton may say in a debate with others from Oxford Faculty of Law can be tactical or rethorical or a surely interesting, legitimate attempt in order to either obfuscate the role the Oxford Internet Institute has had in establishing such horribilis pure legal nonsense (the so called 'right to be forgotten') OR to attract the blame in what is a 'straw man' exercise very common among sociologists and psychologists working for / with / within the media industry.
In fact, Oxford Internet Institute under the previous Director, that was (coincidentally?) Prof Dutton, has had influence on Viviane Reding and others working at the European Commission. Bill Dutton endorsed such horribilis 'right to be forgotten', promoted through Viktor Mayer-Schönberger engagement. The last - who works now fulltime at Oxford Internet Institute - wrote a book, 'Delete', and promoted other initiatives specifically aimed at establishing among european stakeholders and opinion makers such a defective notion.
I was almost the only one to express criticism on it about three / two years ago, when I attended many OII open events and seminars (I have been researching myself this area of studies and business developments since the early 1990s and for many years, before the creation of the OII, I had been among the few people in Europe writing and speaking about internet and media politics, as a consultant, self-employed and independent scholar as well. Then the sociologists' wave came in, covering the 'academic' space of 'internet studies' that they had found almost deserted by both the 'media and cultural studies' and the IT and network engineering people working in european universities).
So all in all it is very good news if now Bill Dutton has changed his mind and he is skeptical about the pure nonsense idea that a right to be forgotten should be established against the right to remember, to be remembered right and to manage personal information according to data protection principles or records management standards. But I tend to interpret his position as instrumental, he is just playing a role in his team game - and I would not be surprised to see my words once again copied (or, as they prefer to say, echoed or reused) by Bill Dutton, by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger or by others working at the OII, but bear in mind the same words may have very diverse political meaning and intention.
Brunella Longo
Information Management Adviser
http://www.brunellalongo.co.uk
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