Online 'right to be forgotten' and freedom of expression : Based on the 2023.7.4. decision of the European Court of Human Rights

There is a saying that goes “forgotten is a gift from God.” This means that unforgettable pain and sadness can be healed over time. However, the concept of oblivion does not exist in the digital world. Even if you forget it for a while, the record will remain forever. The problem arises from the fact that shameful pasts that have been buried in memory can be disclosed regardless of one's intention. This is because a world has arrived in which individual traces can be easily found and spread to many people with just one click without having to go around. Against this backdrop, the legalization of the right to be forgotten, or the right to ensure that the traces of an individual's past floating online are not disclosed to others, is accelerating worldwide. The main goal is to prevent the indiscriminate distribution of information that can damage individuals' reputation and violate their privacy by ensuring that they can claim the right to personal information created, stored, and distributed on the Internet. There are conflicting opinions that this is necessary to legislate the right to be forgotten and that legislation is unnecessary. As information produced and accumulated in the digital world does not have an expiration date, it seems that users operating in the Internet world need to make more careful judgments in consideration of the openness of the environment. It is necessary to recognize the seriousness of the damage that may occur to individuals as well as others due to a post by an individual, and to examine whether the individual's 'right to know' and 'freedom of expression' are violated. Efforts to find the right balance between the right to be forgotten and the freedom of expression seem to have to continue. This paper introduces the decision of the European Court of Justice on May 13, 2014 and the recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights, summarizes domestic and foreign legislative trends, and induces alternatives.