THIS HOUSE BELIEVES IN THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN (Notes for a Practice Round)

THIS HOUSE BELIEVES IN THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN

GOV

Model:

House: USA & Canada

Right to be Forgotten: right to have one's digital footprint erased from the internet. This   consists of erasing information about oneself and about one's activity from the internet, including photos, videos, blogposts, comments, internet searches etc. Not applicable for reasons of police investigation, medical records and etc. 

Nothing posted on the Internet in the status quo disappears completely forever.

1. Past mistakes shouldn't shame someone's reputation later

      A. People make silly mistakes, the digital world is an easy world to make mistakes in. 

Ex: foolish posts from middle school haunting university graduates years later. 

Angry posts about someone's boss causing lots of trouble years later and affecting employment prospects. 

Drunken photos and pictures of partying hard affecting someone's image later

      B. Past silly mistakes and unflattering portrayals on the digital world present an one sided view of a person. 

Ex: many people make videos of them partying or being silly. Not so many post stuff of them working hard or being extremely diligent for fear of appearing arrogant. One sided unflattering media from the past can negatively affect someone's reputation later when searched up. 

       C. People change. 

Just because one went through a partying hard phase in their university years mean that they still party hard at the current moment. The digital world however finds it hard to forget past events and holds on to everything you have ever posted, liked, commented on, shared and got tagged in in your entire digital life. Anyone can search things up from years before and get the one sided view of a person and still assume that the person more or less is still the way they were, thus people are not granted second chances and are forever judged for past mistakes. 

What people are now is what matters and who they were in the past shouldn't affect them now so drastically. What's in the past is in the past and everyone deserves a fresh start, granted to them by the removal of past material from the internet. 

2. Unwanted digital exposure removal

     A. Sabotage - others may purposely post things that defame, slander and ruin other's reputation on the internet, leading to serious real life consequences for the victim. 

Ex: Revenge porn. Angry exes post pornography of their former partners alongside with their partner's names, addresses, email, telephone and etc. on public sites for revenge. Extremely damaging to one's reputation, causes emotional problems and also leads to cyber bullying and viral sex tapes all of which are not consented to by the victim. Consequences may leak to people familiar with the victim and causes job insecurity and loss of reputation. The right to be forgotten in that case should be granted for the victim's safety. 

     B. Legal Issues - Lawsuits launched often leave a digital footprint which can be traced by others and which may reveal details of one's past that people don't want others to know about. The legal records don't necessarily indicate that one is in the wrong or one has done a grave misdeed - but they can lead others to judge someone based upon their past. As well, personal information and private information such as address, health issues, etc may also be on the digital footprint and can lead to loss of privacy as well as potential identity theft. 

     C. Witness Protection Programs - People under the program have their lives endangered if they can be tracked digitally back to their old identities. The right to be forgotten deserves to be bestowed upon them for the sake of their safety. 

3. Disproportionate punishment 

     People are punished disproportionally and also in retrospect for their actions which at the time may or may not have been acceptable. Never the less, the consequences for their digital footprint far outweigh their own fault in making the mistakes.

Consequences: loss of job, employment instability, slut shaming, loss of reputation, lowered self esteem, cyber bullying, unwanted fame, loss of friends/partners, judgement by others. 

-Unlike in real life, you can't take back a mistake and apologise as easily to patch things up because the Internet has the potential to make an embarrassing moment viral to millions of people around the world. 

-Therefore, the punishment cannot be revoked or mitigated through personal actions because personal action is impossible to make millions forget what they have seen and to judge someone again. 

-As well, unlike the just legal system punishments which last for a determined period of time and are proportionate to the lawbreaking, online punishment lasts infinitely and stays on forever. 

-The amount of punishment is also uncontrollable and variable depending on the audience and how vicious they are and the most innocent of actions (Case study: Light Sabre Boy) can yield the most ferocious backlash.