Can we be forgotten after using the cloud service?
Last week we played a card game to play different roles from end users to designers exploring needs and responsibilities of them. One thing I found interesting was the right to be forgotten. As the power of Internet increasingly expanded, especially with the wider application of the cloud computing, I would like to take the right to be forgotten as a representative figure to evaluate how much we can control the data uploaded online.
In this discussion, the right to be forgotten is quite similar to the right to erasure, which means how can individual deletes his personal information when he or she determines to do so. The effect of such action sees in the Key Changes from the EU GDPR.ORG. In the Key Changes, three uses may be prohibited by the data service provider -- ”...erase his/her personal data, cease further dissemination of the data, and potentially have third parties halt processing of the data”.
The question is that can the data controller really erase users’ personal information as users’ requests. The rule of free Internet service is allowing Internet Service Providers to collect users’ personal information and use those information in a commercial way. There is no real “free service” on the Internet. Social medias like Facebook, Twitter and others not only collect personal data for themselves, they also make profits by allowing other ISPs to use the data. It might be true that the biggest obstacle to the right of be forgotten of users is the Internet itself rather than technological measures.(from Lazzeri)
Article 17(2) of GDPR pointing out, the controller’s responsibility is not limited to erase user’s information on their platforms, notices or technical measures must be taken to the third parties who are processing the information. This kind of “complete” erasure may cause the ISPs to make some tricks to avoid the request of fully erasure, for instance, writing an article to limit the scope of erasure when the user wants to “delete all personal data” in the user’s agreement.
Besides that, cloud computing takes the storage of data to a higher level -- the controller may be uncertain as traditional data storage. One example here is the
blockchain technology.
(picture from Blockgeeks: https://goo.gl/images/S9Kj1X)
In such an open and decentralized way, what technical can effectively erase personal data? This leaves a space for further discussion and future technologies.









