FGV’s Sao Paulo Law School (Direito SP) and Rio de Janeiro Law School (Direito Rio) attended a public hearing at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on June 12. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss the civil applicability of the right to be forgotten, when claimed by victims or relatives.

The public hearing was summoned by Justice Dias Toffoli, rapporteur of Special Appeal No. 1010606/RJ, currently underway in STF and with widespread repercussions. The plaintiffs – relatives of Aída Curi, a young woman tortured and killed in Rio de Janeiro in 1958 – appealed against the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice’s ruling that upheld the lower court sentence denying the right to compensation for unauthorized use of Aída’s image on a television show. Aída’s relatives claim that they have a right to be forgotten; that the young woman’s violent death must not be covered in news reports, seeing as the crime was committed more than 50 years ago and no longer has journalistic relevance.

The Supreme Court heard the testimony of authorities and experts on the possibility of the victim’s relatives claiming the right to be forgotten, defining the legal content of such right based on the constitutional precepts of freedom of speech, right to information, human dignity, and the inviolability of honor and intimacy.

Direito SP was represented by the coordinator of the Group for the Teaching and Study of Innovation (GEPI), Alexandre Pacheco, and Direito Rio was represented by the coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society (CTS), Pablo Cerdeira.