Data protection act + application to forums

[pcg79]

Hi

When I was a little younger I opened up an account on a forum that I want deleted now that I'm a respectable adult (ahem) and google kicks up some of the results. Apparently it is against the policy of the website in question to delete accounts, which I find frankly ridiculous. Also the posts Ive made are so long ago that they seem to be 'hidden' from the forum search function, and searching via google still doesnt give the option to delete posts myself anyway.

So is there any obligation under the data protection act (or any other legal requirement) to force them to delete my account? Bear in mind that I didnt have to provide actual personal information such as an address but I did have to provide an email address. The parent owner of the forum is a PLC.

Thank you!

 

[DaGaffer]

Hi

When I was a little younger I opened up an account on a forum that I want deleted now that I'm a respectable adult (ahem) and google kicks up some of the results. Apparently it is against the policy of the website in question to delete accounts, which I find frankly ridiculous. Also the posts Ive made are so long ago that they seem to be 'hidden' from the forum search function, and searching via google still doesnt give the option to delete posts myself anyway.

So is there any obligation under the data protection act (or any other legal requirement) to force them to delete my account? Bear in mind that I didnt have to provide actual personal information such as an address but I did have to provide an email address. The parent owner of the forum is a PLC.

Thank you!

They have to close your account if you request it, but are under no obligation to delete your posts, so closure is kind of moot.

 

[SilverHood]

Log into forum, edit your post to contain just whitespace. Hope your post count isnt > 50

 

[pcg79]

Log into forum, edit your post to contain just whitespace. Hope your post count isnt > 50

like i said, the search function doesnt seem to list any posts i have made although google can find them. but even then there isnt an edit function for those posts.

 

[Moriath]

is curious what you dont want ppl to see

 

[Bahumat]

I was on the understanding that Google does a monthly refresh. This is so that when a website updates their redirects etc, they contain the appropriate url on the search results.

Could it be the posts from ages back are now on a part of their forum you do not have access to?

It might be worth contacting on of the forum admins here, they should know a bit more on how Google looks at forums?