Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1443447
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 JANUARY 2022 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications To be forgotten or not? THE Nationalist Party has filed a mo- tion in parliament to cancel a contro- versial legal notice which allows for the removal of online court judgements. The legal notice gives the director-gen- eral of the court sole discretion to alter or remove judgements from the courts' online portal. However, it does not set out any criteria on how these powers should be applied and what outcomes potential applicants could expect when apply- ing to get their judgements erased or altered. This discretion ostensibly is a consequence, or rather a pretended legitimate move, based on the concept of the right to be forgotten resulting from the provisions of Article 17 of the GDPR. On 24 September 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court) issued two judgments that addressed a question related to the scope of appli- cation of the right to be forgotten over time. Should data about past criminal convictions, which no longer describe a present situation, be removed from a specific search result? From those judgments, it clearly results that a search engine still has to balance the data subject's fundamental rights and the public's right to freedom of information, taking into consid- eration complex criteria such as the nature and seriousness of the offence in question, the progress and the out- come of the proceedings, the data sub- ject's role in public life, and the level of public interest in the information at the time of the removal request. One should focus on developing or reforming our comprehensive data protection laws that do not need to include such a right. In any case, if a similar right is to be developed, its sole purpose must be to enhance users' control over their personal informa- tion and come with appropriate safe- guards, including remedy rights. Consequently, what is of concern is not just the fact that the legal notice fails to lay down any specific criteria, but also that the director-general is the final arbiter in deciding what informa- tion falls under the scope of "public interest" – or does not. Such a scenario makes a mockery of the concept of fairness, due process, transparency and, ultimately, the rule of law. This legal notice needs to be sent back to the drawing board. Under no circumstances must the right to be forgotten be misinterpreted or misap- plied to enable the removal of online content. Dr Mark Said Msida Misconceptions galore JOHN Guillaumier had some dispar- aging titles reserved to the Almighty, completely and conveniently forgetting the fact that the word Yahweh, in answer to Moses' request for a proper name of God, meant "I am who I am" – an enig- matic reply and a refusal on God's part to reveal Himself, an indication of man's powerlessness to penetrate the mystery of God and man's inadequacy to under- stand the divine nature. It is clear that there is an unbridgeable gulf between God and man's understanding. How dare then that J.G. interprets God's inscrutable ways and call Him names! Psalm 112 exhorts us to praise the Lord and his name, from the rising of the sun to its setting. The Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens! The next psalm advises us to tremble, O earth at the presence of the Lord. Not to us, but to thy name give glory for the sake of thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness. The subject of an afterlife has already been treated in my letter 'Apparitions a testament of faith and reality. But J.G. persists in his error. Without resorting to the beliefs of the C.C. and Christians in a recent tabloid paper, I read about the case of a child aged 12, deceased, who came back from beyond the grave as a palpable presence, as real and tangible as she was when alive. This happened sometime after November 17 ,1998 the day of her death. Some months later after a visit of her mother to a psychic, who fell in a trance- like state, opened his eyes wide and star- ing in space in surprise said, "Goodness! Your daughter is already an angel. Most unusual for someone who has passed to the other side so recently." The consultants at Great Osmond Street Hospital state that they often hear stories from parents about super- natural events that had occurred after the death of their child. J.G., who suffers no fools, may not find the above compelling but there's no God or Church manipulated brain- washed doctrine involved in this. Just the truth and nothing but the truth. John Azzopardi Zabbar