European data protection officials will meet Thursday with...

European data protection officials will meet Thursday with representatives of search engine companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to discuss implementation of the “right to be forgotten” ruling, said a government new release and industry representatives. The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party -- officials from various European Union data protection agencies -- decided to call the meeting after a July 15 gathering to discuss guidelines for companies to comply with the European Court of Justice’s “right to be forgotten ruling,” said a July 17 release from the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés, France’s data protection agency (http://bit.ly/1lcSr0S). “This discussion led, amongst other things, to the highlighting that in order to effectively exercise this right, it is necessary for individuals to understand thoroughly the precise reasons a search engine, subject to European Union law, can legally refuse this right,” the agency said. The agency said the meeting with search engine company representatives will allow them to give input on the working party’s compliance guidelines, slated for a fall release. Microsoft and Yahoo confirmed they would have representatives at Thursday’s meeting, while Google said it would comply with privacy officials without adding any specifics. Google and Microsoft have published Web forms for individuals to requests third-party links be removed from searches, while Yahoo is still working on its own compliance strategy, it said Friday.