Zoe Conway, BBC News

媒體英語會帶大家一起學(xué)習(xí) BBC 撰稿人在報道世界大事時常用到的單詞和短語。

Background: 歐洲居民將第一次擁有申請“被公司忘記的權(quán)利”。根據(jù)歐盟新的隱私保護法提議，人們有權(quán)通知一個公司刪除該公司在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上所有有關(guān)他們的個人信息。

Just how much control should people have over their online reputations?

Should they be able to demand that an unflattering photo be permanently deleted from a website like Facebook? Does everything people write online have to stay there? What about bank details, addresses - can websites hold onto this information forever?

These were the kinds of questions being asked by the European Commission as it investigated the issue of internet privacy. Its guiding principle throughout has been what it called "the right to be forgotten". It has now decided on what this mysterious sounding phrase actually means.

It means that a person does have the right to demand their personal information be permanently deleted if it is data that they themselves have put online. But they don't have the right to have things like unflattering blogs or newspaper profiles written by others deleted.

The EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said the changes will help build trust in online services.

The Commission also says that businesses should have to tell their customers within 24 hours if their online accounts have been hacked into.

Some internet companies have reacted with concern to the proposals, warning that they could become bogged down in trying to meet the new requirements and that could affect their ability to grow.