Privacy
The right to dereferencing
The dereferencing of a content in a search engine
You can ask search engines to stop associating content that is harmful to you with your first and last name.
What's the point?
The dereferencing allows to remove one or several results provided by a search engine after a request made from the identity (name and surname) of a person.
This deletion does not lead to the deletion of the information on the source website: the original content remains unchanged and can still be accessed, using other search criteria or by going directly to the site where the information was published.
To remove the information from the source site, you should request deletion from the site’s manager.
How to do it concretely?
1. Search for the form or contact information of the search engine
You can find the coordinates of Atlante Technologies on the information page reserved for the exercise of your rights on the website.
Les principaux moteurs de recherche mettent à disposition un formulaire de demande de suppression de résultats de recherche.
2. Exercise your right to dereferencing
Send to the search engine, through its online form, a request for « dereferencing of a content concerning you displayed in the list of results of the search engine ».
Be sure to specify the web address (url) of the result that is the subject of your request. To do this, right click on the result link and select « copy the link address ».
Motivate your request, indicating to the search engine why you want this link to be dereferenced.
Attention, if and only if, the organization has reasonable doubts about your identity, it can ask you to attach any document to prove your identity, for example to avoid identity theft. On the other hand, it cannot ask you for supporting documents that would be abusive, irrelevant and disproportionate to your request.
3. Keep a copy of your application
This step is essential if you wish to refer the matter to the regulatory authority in the event of a refusal, unsatisfactory response or lack of response.
Are you doing this by mail? Ask for an acknowledgement of receipt that will prove the date of your request.
What should I do if I get a refusal or no response?
Atlante Technologies must prove that:”Legitimate and compelling” reasons require it to continue using your data despite your request, Or that your data are necessary for the establishment, the exercise or the defense of legal rights.
If you exercise your right of opposition to no longer receive commercial prospecting: Atlante Technologies must proceed to the deletion of your email address from its prospecting base as soon as possible.
In all the other cases, Atlante Technologies must answer you as soon as possible and at the latest within one month. This delay can be extended to three months according to the complexity of the request or the number of requests received by the organization. In this last case, Atlante Technologies must inform you of the reasons of this extension within this same period of one month.If Atlante Technologies does not answer you within one month or refuses to grant your request, you can address a complaint to the regulatory body by attaching a copy of your request.
What are the limits of the law?
- A request for dereferencing only concerns the search results that appear when you type your first and last name in the search engine.
- The right to dereferencing does not mean the deletion of the information on the source website: the content can still be consulted by going directly to the site where it was published.
- The dereferenced search result is still accessible from searches performed without your first and last name.
- If the search engine demonstrates that this information should be made public, it may refuse to act on it.
How can we monitor the progress and effectiveness of the right to dereferencing?
To help you check the effectiveness of your rights, the CNIL laboratory team has developed an extension for three browsers (Firefox, Chrome and Opera) that allows you to determine whether or not a link appears among all the results of a search engine, when you enter your name. This extension can thus simplify your procedures by determining, among the proposed search engines, if a result appears and if it has been dereferenced following your request.
Source : CNIL
Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés
To protect personal data, support innovation, preserve individual liberties
