Definitions #
A legal right allowing an individual to request that personal data about them be deleted or removed from online searches and databases, under certain conditions.
Technical Under GDPR Article 17 (and related EU jurisprudence), the data subject's right to erasure ('right to be forgotten') mandates that a controller must delete personal data if certain statutory grounds apply, such as consent withdrawal or the data being no longer necessary.
Example The user invoked the right to be forgotten to request removal of an outdated court record from search results.
Etymology #
Popularized by the 2014 Court of Justice of the EU ruling in Google Spain, the term reflects a legal concept balancing privacy with public access.
Collocations #
- exercise the right to be forgotten 提出删除个人数据的正式请求
- right to erasure 同义术语，GDPR 法律文本中的正式说法
Real Business Examples #
- Under the GDPR, an EU citizen exercised the right to be forgotten to delist search results linking to an unrelated bankruptcy notice.
- The court balanced the right to be forgotten against the public interest in archiving historical news reports.
Register & Variants #
- Register: legal
- BrE/AmE: 全球通用，法律表述以英式文本（GDPR）为主；美语常用‘right to erasure’或‘deletion right’
Synonyms & Antonyms #
- Synonyms: right to erasure, right to deletion
- Antonyms: right to access (data subject's right to obtain copies of personal data, opposed contextually)
Common Errors #
- 误以为该权利是绝对的，可无条件要求删除任何搜索结果。 正确做法：删除请求需符合 GDPR 第17条特定条件（如数据不再必要），并须与公共利益的豁免相平衡。
- 混淆‘删除权’与‘反对处理权’。 正确做法：删除权是针对已合法处理的数据请求清除，反对处理权则是要求停止处理；后者不一定导致删除，除非其它条件满足。
Confusable Terms #
- right to erasure vs Right to be Forgotten
- 在 GDPR 中二者等同，但‘right to be forgotten’强调搜索引擎去链接，常指特定于网络搜索的实践，而‘erasure’泛指数据删除的狭义条款。
Frequently Asked Questions
该权利是否适用美国法律？?
美国没有联邦层面的一般性‘right to be forgotten’，但某些州法（如加州CCPA/CPRA）提供‘删除权’类似概念，但范围有限。
搜索引擎必须删除所有搜索结果吗？?
不，必须根据请求逐案评估，平衡隐私、公共记录和公共利益，仅在满足法定条件时删除特定链接。