- This article about the right to be forgotten on the internet” by Ingo Steinke was first published in November 2014 in the newsletter MCG-Brief of Marie-Curie-Gymnasium high school in Düsseldorf.
Something that many students are very good at is something the internet finds quite difficult: forgetting.
Many data gets collected and uploaded every day Humanity’s knowledge grows, swarm intelligence and big data are making us smarter and smarter, and the knowledge gained is used solely for the benefit of the public. That’s how the brave new world might be, but as we all know, the reality is a bit different.
The truth is that a vast amount of data is collected and uploaded. Companies, intelligence agencies, and criminals are watching us and can use our data to their advantage. Knowledge is power, and that power can also be used against those about whom we know a great deal.
The German politician Malte Spitz wanted to know exactly how much is being stored about a single human being. He requested reports about saved data from companies like Facebook. His research has been published in a book titled “What Are You Doing With My Data?”
How can we protect our data?
While data protection, the protection of minors, and consumer protection are all established laws, the existing rules were largely drafted before computers even existed. As a result,
the internet was considered a “legal vacuum” for years. Lawyers and politicians are now in the process of expanding the existing regulations. A few years ago, new data protection rules were discussed as a “digital eraser”; now, the term “right to be forgotten” is used. In May 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that search engine operators must remove links to websites containing sensitive personal data from their search results upon request.
Technical solutions aim to improve technology so that it offers greater protection and security. This can help make surveillance, data theft, and manipulation more difficult. Many services are quite insecure. Most emails and chat messages are not like digital letters, but more like postcards: anyone who transmits them can read them. Before a message reaches its intended recipient, it passes through many digital “hands.” Neither legal nor technical solutions offer complete protection. Hackers, the police, and intelligence agencies are able to circumvent this protection.
Media Literacy remains the A and O
Media literacy is themost important contribution to privacy protection. This telling term generally refers to the ability to use modern media and devices. Beyond technical knowledge and skills, it also involves understanding and responsibility: Which promising options can I leverage, and which ones should I steer clear of? Marie-Curie high school Düsseldorf wants to pass this media literacy competence not only from teachers and experts, but also from students to other students. “Media scouts” (Medienscouts) are students who explore new media and the opportunities and risks they present, and then share their knowledge with their classmates.
Freedom of speech and data protection are guaranteed by law in Germany. As is well known, this is not the case in all countries. Our freedom comes with the responsibility to protect it and use it wisely. As Heinrich Heine said, Freedom of speech presupposes that one has an opinion. (“Die Freiheit der Meinung setzt voraus, dass man eine hat.”)
It’s also important to realize that data protection isn’t just about protecting your own data, but that you should also handle the data of friends and strangers responsibly—for example, by not immediately uploading every funny video to the internet without thinking it through.
Ingo Steinke, Communication Working Group
Literature and Film Recommendations
Malte Spitz: Was macht ihr mit meinen Daten?
(Verlag Hoffmann und Campe)
“Who am I – kein System ist sicher” (Director: Baran bo Odar, starring Tom Schilling, Elyas M’Barek, Hannah Herzsprung) “WhoAmI is the first German thriller movie since the 1980s that topped the German box office charts after George played Schimanski). The film was recommended by SchulKinoWochen (school cinema weeks) as a class topic for German, political and social science education, ethics, informations sciences, philosophy and psychology for 8th grade and older.” (translated from German Wikipedia)
“Disconnect” (Regie: Henry Alex Rubin)
A gripping ensemble drama with a stellar cast and a cleverly woven thriller exploring abuse, identity theft, and cyberbullying. (“Packendes, bestens besetztes Ensemble-Drama und clever verwobener Thriller um Missbrauch, Identitätsdiebstahl und Mobbing via World Wide Web.”, quoting kino.de)
