The mission to erase an "infamous" digital footprint: the teachers accused of 1-O seek justice.

BarcelonaEvery September for the past seven years, the nine teachers from the El Palacio Institute in San Andrés de la Barca who were singled out on October 1st relive the legal ordeal they suffered when they were accused of abusing the children of Civil Guards. The reason? If new students search for them on Google, the first results that appear are those of the legal case against them, which has since been closed. Also, the article where The World published his name, surname and photographs and that ended up on a cover that the then Cs leader, Albert Rivera, used to point them out as "separatist teachers." In November 2024 The last judicial file opened against the teachers was closed, who lament the "personal strain" and "enormous suffering" over these years, where they have felt alone and without support from either the Generalitat or the City Council. Now they want justice on two fronts: on the one hand, erasing the "infamous" digital footprint of the accusations against them on the internet and, on the other, achieving moral reparation for the damage that includes a plan to protect teachers from persecution for what they express in the classroom.

According to ARA, the teachers' group has taken these demands to both the Department of Education and the Parliament. In fact, the speaker of the chamber, Josep Rull, invited them to a hearing in mid-February to express his support for the Catalan school, when the last case was closed. At that meeting, it was proposed that the Catalan Data Protection Authority (ACPD) help them exercise the so-called right to be forgotten: a right that allows citizens to cancel the processing of their data once it is no longer necessary for the purpose that, at the time, justified its use. Rull contacted the president of the ACPD, Meritxell Borràs—his former colleague in the government of the 1-O referendum—to pave the way for them to exercise this right and, furthermore, to state in the news published about them that the court had declared them innocent. This is the so-called right to update.

The right to be forgotten applies to databases, but also to the systems used by web search engines and newspaper archives to display certain results based on personal data such as names. First, a complaint must be filed with the owners of the websites and social networks where the publication occurred; if they fail to respond, proceedings are opened before the Spanish Data Protection Agency. The Catalan Authority only has jurisdiction when the complaint is filed against a public entity.

Protection against search engines

According to legal sources consulted by ARA, the right to be forgotten can be implemented in several actions: the most drastic measure is the deletion of the news, a request that almost never succeeds because it conflicts with freedom of information. Alternatively, anonymization can be requested (so that names are erased or replaced with initials) or that Google and AI tools, such as ChatGPT, be prevented from tracking the name to offer related results. This preserves the original published information, but protects anonymous citizens from the impact on their rights if anyone searching for them online finds news that affects them years after the events that were newsworthy.

Legal sources consulted by this newspaper believe that the El Palau teachers' request may be successful. However, they also warn that, in general, it is necessary to weigh the measure applied on a case-by-case basis so that the exercise of this right does not become a means of modifying the charter of newspaper archives. The relevance of the news, the time elapsed, and the degree to which it affects a person's rights to honor, privacy, or image are three criteria taken into account when making a decision. Ultimately, a court may be sought to enforce this right.

In search of "redress"

The Catalan Ombudsman has also supported the teachers at El Palau in this process. In fact, this was the only institution that met with them and the complaining families to try to find a solution. The Ombudsman also brokered a meeting in April between the teachers and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education, Teresa Sambola. The teachers secured the support of the department's legal services to move forward with the right to be forgotten procedure, but they are still awaiting a response to their demands for reparation (for example, a declaration of "redress" from the Generalitat and a public event to express support for their work). They also proposed submitting a plan to the Catalan Education Council to reverse "the consequences of the harm inflicted by the persecution suffered and restore the dignity of Catalan schools," as stated in a document provided to Educació and consulted by ARA.

This is where teachers believe steps must be taken to prevent a repeat of what they experienced. This isn't just about debates about democracy and coexistence, like those that erupted in classrooms after the October 1st attacks in Sant Andreu de la Barca, where the largest Civil Guard barracks in Catalonia is located. They report that discussing topics such as the Palestinian massacre or women's rights in the classroom is increasingly difficult in an environment where many teachers end up feeling that the easiest way to avoid trouble is self-censorship. However, teachers at El Palau insist that education professionals must be able to raise awareness about these issues. They believe that developing critical awareness among students is also part of the teachers' role.