MR JUSTICE WARBY
Approved Judgment
NT1 & NT2 v Google LLC
Data protection
52.
The claimant contends that by operating its Search facility in such a way as to return
the offending URLs Google acts as the data controller of information that is personal
data relating to the claimant, and is processing such personal data within the meaning
of the Directive and DPA. Accordingly, says the claimant, Google owes him the
statutory duty provided for in s 4(4) of the DPA.
53.
Google admits that its presentation of search results as a consequence of a search
being carried out on the name of the data subject involves the processing of personal
data of which it is the data controller, and that it owes this statutory duty in respect of
such processing. Google makes no admissions in respect of any operations prior to
presentation of search results, such as finding or indexing information. For the
purposes of this action, and the claim of NT2, it is unnecessary to go further. Nor is it
necessary to determine an issue raised by Google as to when its activities involve the
processing of sensitive personal data. Google admits that the offending URLs contain
information that falls within the categories of sensitive personal data mentioned
above, and that its post-notification activities involve the processing of such data.
Subject to an issue I shall come to, concerning the Journalism Exemption, Google
accepts that upon receipt of a delisting request it is obliged to conduct the balancing
exercise prescribed by Google Spain. As already noted, the issue that did arise as to
the formal or substantive validity of NT1’s original request under s 10 of the DPA has
fallen away.
54.
The main issues as to liability in relation to the data protection claims can be defined
under two heads as follows:
(1)
“The Inaccuracy Issues”. Is there information in any of the three third-party
publications which is inaccurate, in breach of the Fourth Data Protection
Principle, in a way or to an extent that requires or should lead the Court to
grant the blocking, erasure and injunctive remedies sought?
(2)
“The Privacy Issues”. The arguments give rise to four inter-related questions,
which it will be convenient to consider in the following order:
a)
Is Google entitled to rely on the Journalism Exemption? (“the
Exemption Issue”)
b)
At what point in the legal analysis should the Court assess the
compatibility of Google’s processing of the offending links with the
principles in Google Spain (“the Structure Issue”)? There are three
competing arguments on this question.
c)
Does Google’s processing comply with its obligations under DPA s
4(4) (“the DPA Compliance Issue”)?
d)
Does Google’s processing comply with the requirements of Google
Spain (“The Google Spain Issue”)?