In response to http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/1252-the-u-s-should-adopt-the-right-to-be-forgotten-online
There is no right to be forgotten. That's a misapprehension of the root point. There is instead a right to be understood.
Every story discussed in support of the motion points to the every-human wanting to be understood as what they are, not what they were or what someone else believes them to be.
Every story posed against the motion points equally to a public need to understand who someone is now. The stifling of negative information about public figures being prominent.
So I propose that the motion is simply broken. We should instead be discussing a right to be understood and processes that can express and reinforce that right. Frankly, I don't believe any government is the proper party for that. Law is not, cannot reasonably be, flexible enough for that and so it must come to the individual's interaction with the world that expresses the right. Perhaps sadly there are many individuals with greater leverage in their interactions that don't seem interested in understanding anyone outside their circles.
