The internet era has given an increasing opportunity for individual data to be shared and received on a large scale, as anytime we utilize a digital device or use the internet, we leave traces of ourselves behind, which can be used to track or judge our history, habits and tendencies. Unlike humans who are possessed of the ability to forgive and forget over time, the internet in its own case has an interminable ability to remember and recollect data, through the use of search engines such as google, Bing, Firefox, safari, etc
In an age where data collection and processing record a remarkable increase daily, there have been concerns as to how much information should be left online for the public to see. Thus, while data subjects have a right to be forgotten (i.e., the right to request deletion or further processing of their data), this right appears to overlap with the right of the public to access information especially those in the public domain or on search engines.
It is against this background that this piece aims at examining the right to be forgotten, its prospects and challenges in the digital age as well as the possibility of striking a balance between exercising this right and not infringing the right of the public to access information.
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