'Eraser' law gives California teens the right to delete online posts
California teens who regret their online posts will be able to hide the evidence as a result of a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday.
The so-called eraser law requires websites and apps to allow teens under age 18 to delete or hide their online content, report Reuters, ABC News and the San Francisco Chronicle.
The law, which takes effect in January 2015, doesn’t apply to adults who want to remove content posted as a teen, the Chronicle says. Nor does it doesn’t apply to pictures posted by another person, or to content copied and posted to another website, the Chronicle says.
Many companies—including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram—already allow users to delete their content, says lawyer Bradley Shear, who focuses on Internet privacy. But he tells ABC the law is a right-to-privacy milestone. “I think the law forces companies to really incorporate privacy into their design, rather than as an afterthought,” he tells the network.
