Pianist asks The Washington Post to remove a concert review under the EU’s ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling

The pianist Dejan Lazic, like many artists and performers, is occasionally the subject of bad reviews. Also like other artists, he reads those reviews. And disagrees with them. And gripes over them, sometimes. But because Lazic lives in Europe, where in May the European Union ruled that individuals have a “right to be forgotten” online, he decided to take the griping one step further: On Oct. 30, he sent The Washington Post a request to remove a 2010 review by Post classical music critic Anne Midgette that -- he claims -- has marred the first page of his Google results for years. It’s the first request The Post has received under the EU ruling. It’s also a truly fascinating, troubling demonstration of how the ruling could work.