The impact of the right to be forgotten on privacy and online information disclosure

Abstract

The question of how much control individuals have over their data online has taken centre stage with the introduction of the European Union s right to be forgotten (RTBF) principle. However, this principle does not explain the impact and possible consequences that this right has on an individual s willingness to disclose information online. This research examines how an individual s privacy calculus is affected if he or she discloses person ally identifiable information online to service providers. Two hypotheses, the first which, related to the influence the right to be forgotten has on the privacy calculus and, secondly, dealing with the impact of such on information disclosure are assessed using quantitative approach based on an online survey (n=502). The results were analysed using nonparametric tests, which included Spearman s Correlation, Krusal Wallis and the Mann-Whitney U tests. The findings show that the RTBF principle does influence an individual s thought process prior to he or she disclosing information online. Furthermore, the findings indicated individuals with a medium and high degree of information disclosure would disclose more personally identifiable information if they were convinced that information they provided was not discernible. Some of the findings in this research could be of significance in the areas of information technology, international and criminal law, psychology, politics and human rights. Additionally, this study could be used to address individual privacy through amendments to privacy policies, laws and changes in software engineering practices.