“Consumer Watchdog today said an advertising association’s letter to the Federal Trade Commission misunderstands the Right To Be Forgotten and added that consumer privacy protections are not censorship. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) today sent a letter asking the FTC to reject Consumer Watchdog’s complaint that Google’s failure to offer U.S. users the ability to request the removal of search engine links from their name to information that is inadequate, irrelevant, no longer relevant, or excessive is an “unfair and deceptive” practice. Under the Right To Be Forgotten in Europe the Internet giant has removed 41.3 percent of such links from search results when requested. “We’re not asking that content be removed from the Internet,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy project director. “We are asking that Google – not the government — honor requests to take down search links from a person’s name to content that is no longer relevant. Google can easily offer this basic privacy protection to consumers on this side of the Atlantic.” View Consumer Watchdog’s July 7 complaint here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrftcrtbf070715.pdf . The ANA incorrectly asserts that Consumer Watchdog is asking Google “to edit the past under the supervision of federal regulators.” “We’re not asking the government to decide what links should be removed,” said Simpson. “We are simply saying that Google – and other search engines – should be required to have a procedure in place to consider such requests.” In deciding whether to grant removal requests a balance must be struck between the public’s right to know and the individual’s right to privacy, Consumer Watchdog said.”