Right to be Forgotten Case Studies
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The caseworkers at Internet Erasure have acted for over 1,200 clients to achieve the removal of more than 70,000 links and images from Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, AOL, Ecosia, Lycos, Search.com and MSN search results, by successfully arguing for the application of the Data Protection and Privacy Right known as The Right to be Forgotten.
Using this Right to Erasure, as well as defamation, copyright, safeguarding, harassment and privacy arguments, we have also achieved the permanent deletion, or anonymisation, of damaging content from 192.com, Beer Money Forum, Birmingham Mail, Bognor Regis Observer, CBetta, Change.org, CompanyDirectorCheck, Company-Director-Search, CompaniesList, Court News UK, DESIblitz, Daily Advent, Endole, Entertainment Daily, Express, Express and Star, Facebook, Free Court Case, Glassdoor, Graduates.name, HeadTopics, HotLifestyleNews, Imgur, Inside Express, Insidetime, ITV News, JustAnswer, Knowhere, LinkedIn, Local Crime News, MailOnline, Medium, Mirror, MumsNet, MyLondon.news, Newstral, Reality Tit Bit, Reddit, TES, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, The Free Library, The Free Dictionary, The Insider, The Institution of Engineering and Technology, The Sun, The Scottish Sun, Third Sector, Tribune Times, Twitter, Vigour Times, UKBride, Vine archive, Wikipedia, Wired-Gov, Wordpress, YouTube, Zoopla and many more. We have also removed numerous Google Autocomplete entries, knowledge bars and search suggestions. |
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How I used The Right to be Forgotten to Make a Fresh Start.
In 2006 my wife tragically lost her battle with cancer.
We had been running a successful IT consulting and leasing business, but Sally really was the ‘magic ingredient’. When I lost her, I lost my spark and the business struggled.
Faced with mounting debts and pressure and all whilst I was still grieving, I feared losing our home, yet I still had two daughters to think about.
In desperation and fear, I issued several fraudulent invoices which I knew the factoring firm would pay. I planned to pay back the debt over time and all would be well. In 2009, an audit unearthed my fraud, causing my world to crash down again, as I was arrested and charged with fraud and false accounting. Fortunately, as sole carer for my two daughters, and with some sympathy from the judge, I narrowly escaped a prison sentence.
News of my crime and arrest made the local papers and even national websites.
The embarrassment and shame meant that we lost friends and many family members refused to talk to us. Eventually we had to move house and school to avoid poor treatment and harassment.
In 2015 my conviction became legally spent.
This meant that I no longer had to disclose it to apply for jobs, housing or insurance. I thought this meant a fresh start but at school my daughter’s classmates ‘googled’ my name and found the articles causing much distress. I struggled to gain customers to my new business, even though I was pricing my service competitively.
Was my punishment never going to end?
I investigated the rights I had over information presented about me online and discovered The Right to Erasure, also known as the Right to be Forgotten. I learnt about the General Data Protection Regulations (Article 17), which empowers people to ask that search engines block results which are excessive, inaccurate, out of date or no longer relevant.
But where would I start?
Not being legally minded I searched for help, I wanted this to work and didn’t want to mess up by trying a DIY approach. There were a range of firms online from new start ups and expensive reputation lawyers to www.InternetErasure.co.uk who had a solid track record and were well recommended by Unlock charity for people with convictions.
Internet Erasure were knowledgeable and supportive. They covered Google, Bing and Yahoo instead of just Google. They carried out comprehensive research before making the Right to be Forgotten submissions, so no links were missed and they allowed me to pay their fees in installments.
A few weeks later I was thrilled to get the call that Google were blocking everything, shortly followed by more successful right to erasure removals from Bing and Yahoo.
I finally have a fresh start now.
For 13 years I lived through the unjustifiable disclosure of my conviction.
The Information Commissioner classes criminal convictions as highly sensitive data and spent convictions should almost never be disclosed. Why should Google have more authority than the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act? Internet Erasure described it as ‘Enforced Disclosure’ and they gave me the support and practical help I desperately needed to stop it.
Neighbours, dates, employers and clients can no longer discover my private information with just a few clicks, and I don’t have to relive those poor decisions of the past.
I feel free, for the first time, in a long time.
I recommend The Right to be Forgotten to you. I also suggest you visit www.interneterasure.co.uk if you want the professionals to do the work for you.
Best wishes for the future,
David Bartrum
(name changed to protect my new found privacy)
In 2006 my wife tragically lost her battle with cancer.
We had been running a successful IT consulting and leasing business, but Sally really was the ‘magic ingredient’. When I lost her, I lost my spark and the business struggled.
Faced with mounting debts and pressure and all whilst I was still grieving, I feared losing our home, yet I still had two daughters to think about.
In desperation and fear, I issued several fraudulent invoices which I knew the factoring firm would pay. I planned to pay back the debt over time and all would be well. In 2009, an audit unearthed my fraud, causing my world to crash down again, as I was arrested and charged with fraud and false accounting. Fortunately, as sole carer for my two daughters, and with some sympathy from the judge, I narrowly escaped a prison sentence.
News of my crime and arrest made the local papers and even national websites.
The embarrassment and shame meant that we lost friends and many family members refused to talk to us. Eventually we had to move house and school to avoid poor treatment and harassment.
In 2015 my conviction became legally spent.
This meant that I no longer had to disclose it to apply for jobs, housing or insurance. I thought this meant a fresh start but at school my daughter’s classmates ‘googled’ my name and found the articles causing much distress. I struggled to gain customers to my new business, even though I was pricing my service competitively.
Was my punishment never going to end?
I investigated the rights I had over information presented about me online and discovered The Right to Erasure, also known as the Right to be Forgotten. I learnt about the General Data Protection Regulations (Article 17), which empowers people to ask that search engines block results which are excessive, inaccurate, out of date or no longer relevant.
But where would I start?
Not being legally minded I searched for help, I wanted this to work and didn’t want to mess up by trying a DIY approach. There were a range of firms online from new start ups and expensive reputation lawyers to www.InternetErasure.co.uk who had a solid track record and were well recommended by Unlock charity for people with convictions.
Internet Erasure were knowledgeable and supportive. They covered Google, Bing and Yahoo instead of just Google. They carried out comprehensive research before making the Right to be Forgotten submissions, so no links were missed and they allowed me to pay their fees in installments.
A few weeks later I was thrilled to get the call that Google were blocking everything, shortly followed by more successful right to erasure removals from Bing and Yahoo.
I finally have a fresh start now.
For 13 years I lived through the unjustifiable disclosure of my conviction.
The Information Commissioner classes criminal convictions as highly sensitive data and spent convictions should almost never be disclosed. Why should Google have more authority than the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act? Internet Erasure described it as ‘Enforced Disclosure’ and they gave me the support and practical help I desperately needed to stop it.
Neighbours, dates, employers and clients can no longer discover my private information with just a few clicks, and I don’t have to relive those poor decisions of the past.
I feel free, for the first time, in a long time.
I recommend The Right to be Forgotten to you. I also suggest you visit www.interneterasure.co.uk if you want the professionals to do the work for you.
Best wishes for the future,
David Bartrum
(name changed to protect my new found privacy)
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In 2014, BN, a graduate, was sentenced to just under 3 years imprisonment for a non-violent crime, motivated by his desperation at being out of work.
He accepted responsibility & pleaded guilty, served his prison sentence, & successfully completed his license in the community. For 6 years since release, he has suffered from #EnforcedDisclosure by way of Google search, publicly everyone could know with just a few clicks. BN's family were being punished too, for having the same surname, should the shame have no end? BN's conviction will not become legally spent for 2 more years, but despite this, in February 2022, we successfully argued & won the removal of news articles & the arrest photograph from Google. |
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Historic Bad publicity removed from the internet under the Right to be Forgotten
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As a result of unpaid debts an individual received excessive publicity in local media outlets.
One article in particular was still damaging her life greatly so she instructed Internet Erasure to remove the links which after more than 6 years were no longer relevant or justified. Through the Right to be Forgotten, we successfully removed the articles from Google within 2 weeks. We then decided to make direct approaches to the newspaper to have the primary article permanently deleted, arguing it was no longer relevant. In the face of our robust and reasoned arguments the publisher agreed to delete the article permanently and now this highly private information will no longer haunt her. She can live in peace and move on with her life knowing that no one can discriminate against her based on a troubled past anymore. |
"Dear Joy,
Your attention to detail on the GDPR matters under the right to be forgotten clause in EU Law - as well as the direct approach you made to the newspaper, which affected worldwide searches on the web, was really outstanding work. I cannot tell you how impressed and grateful I am for your commitment and resourcefulness from start to finish and all completed in just 2 months! I have no hesitation in recommending your services to any of my friends and colleagues who work in finance and who may need to remove out of date or factually misleading information on the internet. You are a fabulous erasure service! Keep up the A1 work you do. Regards" KD |
Historic Benefit Fraud conviction removed from Google, Bing and Yahoo under the Right to be Forgotten
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Internet Erasure have successfully removed content for an individual that was convicted of benefit fraud because the continued publication of these articles was no longer relevant.
They were claiming benefits due to an illness but worked occasionally. The individual received a criminal conviction and went to prison. It had been a decade since their release and their conviction was legally spent. We submitted requests to the search engines on the above grounds as well as the articles being inaccurate in part. We successfully removed all links that appeared when searching his name on Google, Bing and Yahoo. A quick google search will now not bring up their private conviction, they now have a chance to rebuild their life fully and live without discrimination. The links had ben negatively affecting his children in school, job applications and even renting a property. When we told the client about the successful removal he said "This is the best news I have received in a long-time, thank you, you have literally changed my life!" |
