Have We Forgotten Freedom of Information? A Comparative Critical Overview of the Right to be Forgotten in Europe and the United States

This essay aims to provide a comparative study of the right to be forgotten in the European Union and the United States. It seeks to demonstrate that the right to be forgotten can be framed in a way aimed at realizing the collective interest in a fair digital public sphere, where the values of freedom of information and privacy are both promoted equally. To this purpose, this article critically examines the changes in the information system arising from digital technologies, and the development of the right to be forgotten in Europe in the last few years. Afterwards, the article draws a comparison with the US legal framework, where the right to be forgotten has much more limited room, to see whether and how the right to be forgotten could be recognised under US common law. Ultimately, this study seeks to show that the principles and values of freedom of expression, information and privacy rights are often only seemingly conflicting with each other; and that establishing a minimum common core to the right to be forgotten between different legal orders is both possible and desirable in the digital age.