Global Freedom of Expression

20 March

Global Trends in the Right to be Forgotten

  • 12:00pm-1:00pm ET (New York); 4:00pm - 5:00pm GMT (Dakar); 5:00pm - 6:00pm CET (Paris)

Global Trends in the Right to be Forgotten

How has the so-called Right to be Forgotten evolved over the last decade since the landmark ruling Google Spain SL v. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos in 2014? Global Freedom of Expression reported the findings from the Special Collection paper Does our past have a right to be forgotten by the internet?, which surveyed jurisprudence around the world to understand how courts in different jurisdictions have understood and adjudicated these rights claims. French legal scholars presented recent case law from French courts to illustrate emerging norms. The panelists from France and Argentina discussed the complexities and impacts of de-indexing, deleting, or anonymizing content, and how judges around the globe are dealing with the challenges posed by the social processes of memory and forgetting on the Internet. They also considered trends in legal reasoning when it comes to balancing freedom of expression with privacy, intermediary liability, reputation, and the special duties of public figures.

The French language database and this webinar were made possible with the support of UNESCO Multi-Donor Programme on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists (MDP), and the Cyrilla Collaborative, with funding from The Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) at Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya.

CGFoE is thankful to ARTICLE 19 Senegal and other colleagues in West Africa and Europe for supporting this webinar.

Speakers:

  • Ramiro Alvarez Ugarte, Vice-Director of the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Argentina (CELE).
  • Frédéric Gras, French attorney at Law at the Bar of Paris.

Presentation:

  • Anderson Javiel Dirocie De León, Legal and Program Consultant at Global Freedom of Expression.

Moderator:

  • Basile Ader, specialist in Media Law and former President of the Bar of Paris. 

Presentation: Anderson Javiel Dirocie De León, Legal and Program Consultant at Global Freedom of Expression

He is an international lawyer specialized in Public International Law and Human Rights. He has worked in several international courts and bodies, including the International Criminal Court, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In addition, he worked in the Electoral High Court of the Dominican Republic and in various NGOs. He holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School (2023), an LLM in Advanced Studies in Public International Law from Leiden University (2018), and an LL.B. Summa Cum Laude from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) (2017). Within the framework of these latter studies, he did her research work on International Law and the Internet, in particular, the extension of human rights protection on social media platforms with a case study on the Oversight Board.

Moderator: Basile Ader, specialist in Media Law and former President of the Bar of Paris

Basil is a Former Vice President of the Paris Bar (2018/2019), former member of the Paris Bar Council (2010-2012), former member of the Paris Bar Debating Society (Secrétaire de la Conférence) (1993), former President of the OIAD (Observatoire international des avocats en danger – International observatory for endangered lawyers), former President of Barreau de Paris Solidarité (Paris Bar association of volunteer lawyers) and Managing Editor of Légipresse (magazine on communication law published by Dalloz). Basile Ader also teaches at EFB (Paris Bar School). Basile Ader is involved in all types of criminal, civil or business disputes pertaining to white-collar crime, media law, art market law, and intellectual property. He has a specific expertise in press criminal law, as managing editor of the French monthly magazine Légipresse since its creation in 1987. He has created the “Lawyer representing artists and authors” status (avocat mandataire d’artistes et d’auteurs).

Ramiro Alvarez Ugarte, Vice-Director of the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Argentina (CELE)

Ramiro is a professor of Constitutional Law and Social Movements at the University of Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is currently conducting field-work in Buenos Aires for his JSD dissertation at Columbia Law School.

Previously, he worked as a human rights lawyer at the Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and at the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. He has done consulting work for national and local governments in several countries of Latin America and civil society organizations from the United States, Colombia, Venezuela, the United Kingdom and Argentina.

Frédéric Gras, French attorney at Law at the Bar of Paris

Frédéric Gras, born in 1965 in Germany, is a French attorney at Law at the Bar of PARIS (France) who deals with Media Law (freedom of speech, intellectual property, advertisement) and Labour Law cases for media firms and journalists. He is also an expert for the Council of Europe (DG II) and a lecturer on Freedom of Speech for UNESCO, OSCE, ARTICLE 19 and Civil Rights Defenders (ex Swedish Committee) . He is a member of the editorial committee of LEGIPRESSE, a French Media Law Review. In a former academic life, he was a Lecturer at the University of PARIS II Pantheon-Assas and an Associate Professor at the Institute of Political studies in Rennes (Brittany).