LIVE DEBATE: The "Right to be Forgotten" as a Civil Right

NEGATIVE CONSTRUCTIVEBecause I believe in the importance of free speech, I negate.Observation One: We should presume negative because inventing additional rights is problematic.Prof. Napoleon Xanthoulis, 2012, writes, "There is a significant concern that...rights inflation trivialises rights, imposes unreasonable burdens on duty bearers and excessive constraints on freedom...and undermines valuable social relations." What he is saying here is that by making so many things rights, we demean what a right is and we come to believe that every privilege, convenience, or beneficial thing ought to be a right.I Value Justice, defined as giving each what they are due. Because the resolution is inherently questioning whether we are due a specific civil right, Justice should be the value for this debate.The right to free speech is essential to any society because, as Prof. Robert Larson, 2013, emphasizes, free speech facilitates five key values, including: "(1) individual autonomy; (2) truth seeking; (3) self-government; (4) the checking of abuses of power; and (5) promotion of good character." Prof. Rodney Smolla, 2012, concurs, writing, "speech is a means of participation, the vehicle through which individuals...actively join in the processes of decision-making that shape the polity...Freedom of speech is also an essential contributor to the American belief in government confined by a system of checks and balances, operating as a restraint on tyranny, corruption and ineptitude [also] ...Robust protection of freedom of speech...actually works to make the country more stable." Thus, the Criterion must be Protecting Free Speech and Expression.It is my Sole Contention that the "right to be forgotten" violates the right free speech and expression.Sub-point A: The "right to be forgotten" promotes censorship.The Buisiness Insider, 2014, gives us the following example, "Google was required to delete a link to this BBC article about Stan O'Neal, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch. O'Neal led the bank in the mid-2000s, a period when it became dangerously over-exposed to the looming mortgage crisis...O'Neal lost his job, but he exited with a"golden parachute. There is nothing incorrect in the post...'[I]n removing the blog, Google is confirming the fears of many...that the 'right to be forgotten' will be abused to curb freedom of expression and to suppress legitimate journalism that is in the public interest.'" Besides threatening journalism, the right to be forgotten jeopardizes our ability to get information to form opinions and to check abuses of power. Jef Auloos, 2012, adds, "One of the most repeated arguments against a "right to be forgotten" is that it would constitute a concealed form of censorship. By allowing people to remove their personal data at will, important information might become inaccessible, incomplete, and/or misrepresentative of reality."Sub-point B: The public has a right to know.Norberto de Andrade, 2012, states, "[W]hen 'information about the past is needed to protect the public today, there will be no right to be forgotten. [W]hen a person who has abused his managerial position to gain financial advantages in the past seeks employment in a comparable position.' The right to oblivion will also face difficulties regarding certain members of society (politicians, public figures) whose transparency is important from a point of view of political credibility and democratic accountability.Thus, I negate.SOURCESXanthoulis: 2012, "Conceptualizing a Right to Oblivion in a Digital World: A Human Rights-Based Approach,", SSRN Paper [http://ssrn.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu...]Larson: 2013, "Forgetting the First Amendment: How Obscurity-Based Privacy and a Right to be Forgotten are Incompatible with Free Speech," Communication Law and Policy, 18 (1), 91-120, p. 109-112Smolla: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org...Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com...Auloos: 2012, "'The Right to be Forgotten' Worth Remembering?", Computer Law and Security Review, 28 (2012) 143-152, p. 145-6de Andrade: 2012, "Oblivion: The Right to be Different ...from Oneself. Reproposing the Right to be Forgotten," Monograph VII International Conference on Internet, Law & Politics