Japanese court rules against paedophile in ‘right to be forgotten’ online case

Japan’s supreme court has rejected a man’s attempt to argue for the “right to be forgotten” in order to have references to his arrest for child prostitution removed from Google search results.

The Japanese plaintiff, who has not been named, had demanded that Google remove reports posted online more than four years ago detailing his arrest and conviction for breaking child prostitution and pornography laws, for which he was fined 500,000 yen ($4,400). The man said that his case appeared whenever his name and address were entered into a Google search.

The supreme court said, however, that the public’s right to know outweighed the man’s right to privacy, given the serious nature of his crimes.

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