this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2025
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Do you consider the right to be forgotten a human right? Why or why not? (lemmy.wtf)
submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I was watching a Joe Scott video about the Somerton Man, and at one point he mentions it's believed he just wanted to be forgotten.

I've met a lot of people who are like this. They feel too dysphoric about their life and are eager to see the day when their families all pass away or have memory loss so that the worst parts of their life aren't in other peoples' heads anymore. It's sad.

There are a lot of things we consider rights by default. There's a right to a burial. There's a right to a last meal. There's a right to a will. Some of these have people who philosophize about them but most are taken for granted.

Do you think there's a right to be forgotten? How much do you validate it? What's your reasoning?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"Human rights" are a nice idea, but unfortunately, they're a joke in practice. History clearly shows how quickly even the most basic rights vanish. If you aren't liberated, if you don't have the power to defend them (whether collective or individual power), rights are only privileges. So in that sense, I can't consider it a human right.

But do I think someone should be free to pursue that goal? I'm not sure. Remembering history is really important in our development and learning. For a more extreme example, if someone, say, worked as a hitman for organized crime, killing many people, and later regretted their decision and requested people forget about them, I don't think someone who has had such a profound impact on a society should be able to simply demand that anyone, let alone the whole of their society, ignore their past actions.

I believe people can appeal for forgiveness, or even ask people to forget them, but I don't believe in a universal right to be forgotten, such as legally punishing people who discuss someone who wanted to be forgotten (I really don't know how else such a right could be enforced).

With all that said, the GDPR "right to be forgotten" is a distinct and wonderful thing and I hope more countries enforce it. But again, know it's only a privilege. A company can literally just make an illegal copy and pass it around like candy, if they believe they can avoid prosecution.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I think you summed up my thoughts on the matter much better than I could have. In particular, the “digital” / “corporate” right to be forgotten is distinct and much more specific in its scope than a broader right, and is a rather important consumer protection in my opinion.