There’s this American show on TV that my husband is quite fond of called “MythBusters,” and it’s quite simple and clever, really: Two special effects experts use more-or-less scientific methods to test the plausibility of urban myths and movie scenes. For example, you may be interested to know they demonstrated not long ago that boarding an airplane back-to-front is the slowest method of doing so.

With European regulators being inundated with complaints about search engines refusing to delete complainants from their results, and references to Barbra Streisand this week, the right to be forgotten is creating such a stir in the privacy community and beyond that it’s quickly becoming an urban myth itself.

Last week, the Article 29 Working Party announced the adoption of a “toolbox” to ensure a “coordinated approach to the handling of complaints” whilst the European Commission’s Directorate General for Justice released a factsheet on the right to be forgotten entitled “Myth-Busting.” 

The commission’s factsheet promotes a “sober reading” of the 13 May judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU and mentions that “the concerns that have emerged” in the debate about the right to be forgotten “are exaggerated or simply unfounded.” 

The factsheet analyses six myths—among which are “the judgment allows for censorship” and “the judgment renders the data protection reform redundant”—in an informal and easy-to-read language.

You know, in case you were looking for some light weekend reading!