New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Last year, the EU determined that individuals have a right to be forgotten, "the right - under certain conditions - to ask search engines to remove links with personal information about them." European citizens can now petition search engines to remove links about them from any results; in six months, Google received over 180,000 such requests. Largely seen as a victory in Europe, in the U.S., the reaction has been overwhelmingly negative. On March 11, Intelligence Squared U.S. will explore whether
America should reconsider its resistance with a debate on the motion "The U.S. Should Adopt the 'Right to be Forgotten' Online".
The debaters arguing in favor of the motion are a director in the European Commission's
Justice Unit, Paul Nemitz, and University of
Chicago law professor Eric Posner. Opposing them will be Digg CEO and former director of Global Public Policy at Google Andrew McLaughlin and Harvard professor of
Internet law Jonathan Zittrain. The four will debate whether giving American citizens the "right to be forgotten" online would be a win for privacy and human dignity or a blow to free speech and public information.
One month before the "right to be forgotten" debate, Intelligence Squared U.S. will celebrate its 100th debate by addressing America's future. Find more information on the 100th debate here
Arguing for the motion:
* Paul Nemitz: Dir. of Fundamental Rights & Citizenship, DG Justice, European Commission
Paul F. Nemitz is the director for fundamental rights and union citizenship in the Directorate General for
Justice of the European Commission. The free movement of people in Europe, data protection, and children's rights are also key responsibilities of his Directorate. In addition to broad experience as agent of the commission in litigation before the European Courts, he has published extensively on EU law, which he is currently teaching as a visiting professor at the College of
Europe in Bruges.
* Eric Posner: Professor of Law, University of Chicago
Eric Posner is the Kirkland and Ellis Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. His current research interests include financial regulation, international law, and constitutional law. His books include The Twilight of International Human Rights (2014), Economic Foundations of International Law (with Alan Sykes) (2013), The Perils of Global Legalism (2009), and The Limits of International Law (with Jack Goldsmith) (2005). He writes a column for Slate on legal issues.
Arguing against the motion:
* Andrew McLaughlin: CEO, Digg and Instapaper & Fmr. Dir. of Global Public Policy, Google
Andrew McLaughlin is currently CEO of Digg and Instapaper and a partner at betaworks. From 2009-11, he was a member of Obama's senior White House staff, serving as deputy chief technology officer of the U.S., responsible for advising the president on Internet, technology, and innovation policy. Previously, he was director of global public policy at Google, leading the company's work on issues like freedom of expression and censorship, surveillance and law enforcement, privacy, and
Internet regulation.
* Jonathan Zittrain: Professor, Harvard Law & Co-Founder, Berkman Center for
Internet & Society
Jonathan Zittrain is the
George Bemis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government, co-founder and faculty director of the Berkman Center for
Internet & Society, and professor of computer science at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. His research interests include battles for control of digital property and content, cryptography, electronic privacy, the roles of intermediaries within
Internet architecture, and human computing. He performed the first large-scale tests of
Internet filtering in China and Saudi Arabia, and, as part of the OpenNet Initiative, co-edited a series of studies of
Internet filtering by national governments.
The debate will also stream live online, then air soon after as part of the syndicated NPR show "Intelligence Squared U.S." On March 11, online viewers can tune in here or via IQ2's new app here
WHAT: Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates "The U.S. Should Adopt the 'Right to be Forgotten' Online"
WHEN: Wednesday, March 11, 2014 / Reception 5:45-6:30 / Debate 6:45-8:30 PM
WHERE: Kaufman Center/129 W. 67th Street (bet. Broadway and Amsterdam)/New York, NY 10023
TICKETS: $40 ($12 for students w/ ID). To purchase, visit https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/
ABOUT INTELLIGENCE SQUARED U.S. DEBATES (IQ2US)
A non-partisan, nonprofit organization, Intelligence Squared U.S. was founded in 2006 to restore civility, reasoned analysis and constructive public discourse to today's often biased media landscape. IQ2US reaches millions through multi-platform distribution, including radio, television, live streaming, podcasts and interactive digital content. It is one of the top 25 most popular podcasts on iTunes, and has won the 2014 Clarion Award for
Radio Regular Feature Program and back-to-back 2013-2014 New York Festivals International
Radio Awards for Best Public Affairs Program. The debates have attracted some of the world's top thinkers, including Malcolm Gladwell, Steven Forbes, Dr. Neal Barnard, Arianna Huffington, Paul Krugman, and Karl Rove. With 100 debates and counting, Intelligence Squared U.S. has encouraged the public to "think twice" on a wide range of provocative topics. Author and ABC News correspondent John Donvan has moderated IQ2US since 2008. The executive producer is Dana Wolfe.
