Right to be forgotten: stop Google showing what no longer represents you

No. It stops the link appearing on Google or Bing when your name is searched. To have the article removed or anonymised on the news site itself, the request has to go to the publisher, and we handle that too.

By law it has one month, which it can extend by two more months in complex cases. In practice, many replies arrive within two to four weeks.

You can file a complaint with the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). It is free and, if the Agency rules in your favour, Google must remove the link.

The right to be forgotten protects individuals. For a company we use other routes: removal at source, delisting for breach of the search engine's own policies, or pushing negative results down.

It is the right to ask a search engine to stop showing, when your name is searched, links to information about you that is inaccurate, no longer necessary or has lost public interest over time. It was born from the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 13 May 2014 in the Costeja case and is now set out in Article 17 of the GDPR and Article 93 of the Spanish Data Protection Act (LOPDGDD).

When the information is still of public interest, for example if it concerns a public office you hold or your current professional activity, or when it is recent and accurate. It is also usually refused for serious crimes or facts that remain relevant. That is why we analyse each link first and tell you frankly which ones have prospects.

First we find every link that appears when your name is searched and pick the ones with a solid basis. Then we prepare the request on each search engine's official form, with specific arguments for each link and supporting documents. If the answer is negative or does not arrive in time, we prepare the complaint to the Spanish Data Protection Agency.

Yes. Google's form and the complaint to the AEPD are free and anyone can use them. What we bring is knowing which links have prospects, how to argue each one using the criteria Google and the Agency apply, and following it through to the end, because a badly framed request usually ends in refusal.

It depends on the number of links and on whether the case has to go to the AEPD. The analysis is free and you receive a fixed quote in writing after the free analysis, before we start. If we see that a link has no real prospects, we leave it out.

A copy of your identity document (a passport is fine) to prove it is you, and a signed authorisation for us to act on your behalf. It also helps a great deal to have any document showing the information is out of date, such as a decision to drop the case, an acquittal or a certificate that your criminal record has been cleared.

Not necessarily. According to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the removal applies to the European versions of the search engine, and Google also restricts access from Europe. For anyone searching for you from outside the European Union, the result may still appear.

Yes. Any search engine operating in the European Union must handle these requests, and Bing has its own form. We submit the request to every search engine where the link appears so the result is complete.

Yes. The Spanish Data Protection Act (LOPDGDD) allows relatives and heirs to exercise the data protection rights of a deceased person, unless that person expressly prohibited it. You need to provide proof of the death and of your relationship.