When it comes to the right to be forgotten, with respect to content published online that infringes fundamental rights, the strongest remedy is undoubtedly the definitive erasure of the data.
However, this is not always possible: the individual's interest in being forgotten must be balanced against other relevant interests, such as that of the community to know legitimately disclosed facts or the interest in preserving historical memory.
In such cases, the alternative is the updating of the published contents, so as to adapt them to the evolution of the identity of the person concerned, or the deindexing, i.e. the removal, from search engine results, of the links to the sites where such contents are available.
The Italian "Corte di Cassazione" recently returned to the right to be forgotten with some clarifications on the criteria to be taken into account in its assessment in order to correctly balance the interests at stake.
Of particular relevance is the possible obsolescence of the original news, especially when its content is then overtaken by a different procedural truth.
In cases of publication of news concerning judicial events, it has been clarified that obsolescence must be ascertained by considering the date of the events narrated and not, instead, the later date of the acquittal sentence that closes the trial.
Another element is the possible status of the involved party as a public figure, an aspect of particular importance to ensure the right to information.
The judges ruled that national notoriety is not necessary: understood in this way, this requirement would excessively reduce the recipients' opportunities for knowledge, protecting in an a priori manner persons whose events may in any case impact on the local community in which they operate.
