A new European law on the "right to be forgotten" online would be technically unenforceable and lead to thousands of misconceived complaints, the justice minister Simon Hughes has said.
In an attempt to discourage a deluge of claims from those seeking removal of data from the internet, the Liberal Democrat told a parliamentary committee that he was not in favour of restricting information.
EU states are currently negotiating draft regulations that would allow individuals to ask search engines to take down certain categories of personal data, something the European commission has dubbed the "right to be forgotten".
Concerns about preserving citizens' rights in the age of internet publishing have been heightened by a landmark ruling by the European court of justice which said that search engines such as Google have to consider requests to wipe links to news stories.
Addressing the Lords' home affairs committee, Hughes said: "The government is concerned. We would not want what is currently in the draft [ie the right to be forgotten]. We think it's the wrong position.
"I don't think we want the law to develop in the way that is implied by the ECJ judgment, which is that you close down access to information in the EU which is open in the rest of the world. We do not agree with the present text."
Hughes added: "If politicians think they can delete findings about their expenses, that's not going to … [happen]. If people think they can delete their criminal history, it won't occur. It's not in the public interest. I hope we can discourage a lot of people."
The judgment had created a new stream of complaints to internet companies which might eventually find their way to the Information Commissioner's Office and be appealed up to tribunals, Hughes added.
He denied that the ICO was already swamped but acknowledged that thousands of requests had been made since the ECJ judgment, the result of which, he said, had been "unexpected".
He said: "There is no right given by the judgment for people to have their personal data deleted from the search engine results. There is no unfettered right. There is no right to be forgotten. Not in the law of the UK, not in directives, not in the judgments of the court."
Hughes said a "mischievous" business of online reputation management had emerged since the judgment, offering to assist people trying to request removal of information online.
On the practicalities, Hughes commented: "It looks to me as if it may be an unmanageable task. It will be a phenomenal task. It's not technically possible to remove all traces of data loaded on to the internet from other sources. You can't exercise the right to be forgotten. The information system could not be made to do it.
"Google are being very cooperative. My interpretation is that this is difficult and uncomfortable for them. They are conscious of their global influence. I think they would be very keen for the law to be changed as soon as possible and will collaborate with us to do so."
It was probably not a coincidence that a number of requests to remove stories by high-profile journalists had been "on the top of the pile" when Google came to consider removals initially. "That series of events suggests to me that people want to make sure their positions are known," Hughes said.
Ministers have estimated that the cost to British businesses of enforcing a new EU law on the right to be forgotten and related regulations would be up to £360m a year.
