Title Page
ABSTRACT
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 10
1.1. Rationale 11
1.2. Scopes and Limitation of the study 12
1.3. Methodology 13
Chapter 2: General introduction to the right to be forgotten regime 15
2.1. Background: the omnipotent digital memory and its dark side 15
2.1.1. The rapid development of digital memory 16
2.1.2. The dark side of digital memory 21
2.2. Basic Concepts in the right to be forgotten regime 27
2.2.1. The scope of personal data 29
2.2.2. The definition of data subject 31
2.2.3. Other related legal subjects 33
2.2.4. The naming arguments 34
Chapter 3: Comparative study on the right to be forgotten's development in European Union and the United States 40
3.1. Evolution of the right to be forgotten ruling in the European Union 41
3.1.1. The Data Protection Directive of 1995 43
3.1.2. Formal Establishment: Google Spain v AEPD and Mario Costeja Gonzalez 45
3.1.3. Article 29 Working Party's guidelines for compliance 51
3.1.4. The General Date Protection Regulation 59
3.2. The United States' ruling related to the right to be forgotten 65
3.2.1. California's right of erasure for minors 65
3.2.2. Recent survey on the United States' attitude toward the right to be forgotten 69
3.3. Comparative study 70
3.3.1. Different attitude towards balancing with other fundamental rights 71
3.3.2. Problems caused by the discrepancies between EU and US law 75
Chapter 4: Evaluation on the Efficiency of the Right to Be Forgotten Regime 81
4.1. Evaluation based on the working mechanism of the right to be forgotten 81
4.1.1. The working mechanism of the right to be forgotten 82
4.1.2. Evaluation 88
4.2. Evaluation based on the current implementation of the right to be forgotten 98
4.2.1. Current implementation of the right to be forgotten 98
4.2.2. Evaluation 110
Chapter 5: Conclusion 119
REFERENCES 124