Erasing Digital Footprints as a Means of Confidentiality Preservation and Balancing the Public's Informational Interest

Abstract

The implementation of general data protection regulation (GDPR) and the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica incident marked a significant turning point in the public sentiment over the matters of democracy and individual rights to confidentiality preservation. These particulars have garnered heightened attention in response to recent advancements on the enforcement of the right to erasure (or the “right to be forgotten”). Correspondingly, problems surrounding the right have spurred debate over the extraterritorial application of the EU law as well as over striking optimal balance between individual's data autonomy and other rights in global context. In the chapter, the author addresses these issues and investigates the constitutionality of erasing digital footprints. This chapter delves into the right to erasure under the GDPR and how it has prompted legal reactions in countries beyond the European Union.