Das Recht auf Vergessenwerden als Menschenrecht

The processing of personal data is becoming ubiquitous and affects almost all areas of society. At the same time the possibility to permanently analyze personal behavior threatens to become an unbearable burden for the future development of the individual. Faced with a world of informational convergence the question arises if human dignity can prevail in the age of information.
In this book it is submitted that there is a need to ensure the decay of personal information through the establishment of an individual right. This mechanism is based on the original idea of the “Right to be Forgotten”, but transforms it into a mechanism which should only be applied in very sensitive contexts of data processing. As such this right should become part of a “Cascade of Decaying Information” which is a legal toolbox to balance the interests of the public and the individual.