AN “ERASE” BUTTON FOR THE INTERNET? Global Media Law Scholar to Address “Right To Be Forgotten”

04/10/2015

With the proliferation of e-mail and social media, people sometimes wish that there was a “delete” button which would allow them remove embarrassing social media posts, retract mistakenly sent e-mails, and generally control their image online.

That is the idea behind the “right to be forgotten” and other privacy concepts in Europe, which are being promoted for adoption worldwide, including in the United States. But they conflict with traditional notions of free speech under the First Amendment.  

Kyu Ho Youm, a renowned international free speech scholar and holder of the Jonathan Marshall First Amendment Chair at the University of Oregon, will discuss this conflict on Wednesday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m., in the Holliday Forum of LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication.  

Dr. Youm has extensively published about freedom of speech and the press in major academic and professional journals, and his research has been used and cited by media law practitioners and cited by American and foreign courts, including the U.K. House of Lords, the Canadian Supreme Court, and the Australian High Court.  

His speech at LSU will examine the right to be forgotten, and how it has evolved under EU law. He will also address how it affects freedom of expression globally, and how it may apply to internet search research results globally.  

The event is sponsored by the Manship School’s Press Law and Democracy Project, part of the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs. It is free and open to the public.  

For more information, contact Amy Reynolds at areynolds@lsu.edu.