An Essential Erasure

Policymakers must ensure that privacy doesn't become a casualty in the pursuit of digital progress

- RAAVI BIRBAL

AI is such an integral part of our daily lives, and so integral should be the Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) as a part of AI. In a country like India, with a population of billions and a rapidly growing digital economy, the ethical and legal challenges surrounding RTBF are many. There has to be a balance between digital progress and fundamental privacy rights.

The Right to Be Forgotten is the right of individuals to have their personal data removed from public access when it is no longer necessary, relevant, or lawful. With the exponential growth of artificial intelligence, the collection, storage, and usage of personal data have reached unprecedented levels. In the digital age, personal data can be most vulnerable. With low digital literacy in many regions across the globe, individuals may not even be aware of their general rights to request data erasure, rendering the right ineffective in practice. And therefore, clear, robust laws are needed.