Perhaps the European Court of Justice wants to equal the US Supreme Court in a display of poor judgment. That might explain why it ruled this week that a 19-year-old directive means Google must remove some search results that people do not like.

There may be arcane logic under European law to classifying internet search engines as “data controllers” along with publishers and holders of personal data such as government computers. But this only shows that the EU’s 1995 data protection directive is an ass.

A line will soon form to knock out revealing photographs, bits of tawdry gossip, legal orders, past convictions and anything that anyone finds an embarrassment. Before long, people’s search results will start to resemble official biographies, recording only the facts that they want other people to know, and not the remainder of reality.