Earlier this week, Europe’s controversial “Right to be forgotten” legislation started going after Wikipedia pages. Now we know more: Wikipedia has revealed the five pages removed from Google searches, adding up to more than 50 links in total.
The Wikimedia Foundation posted the notices of removal online today. Pages on Italian criminal Renato Vallanzasca, Irish bank robber Gerry Hutch, Italian gang Banda Della Comasina, a chess player, and a photo of a musician named Tom Carstairs in concert are all getting removed from searches.
The Wikimedia Foundation made it clear these notices were not warmly received:
We do not know who requested each removal. People should not assume that a subject of an article made the request, since others may have the opportunity to make such a demand for removal.
The results are only blocked in Europe, so if you’re someplace else in the world, you can still see the content stirring up trouble. [Guardian]