La Fortuna will be a star
of ABC reality program


A hotel in the La Fortuna area will be the base for the Monday episode of the reality television show "The Bachelor."

This is a series in which a man evaluates a number of women and then selects one to be his bride. The man this season is Brad Womack, who was the lead three years ago. They declined to select one of the finalists and the Web sites and magazines that follow such things were discussing the development for weeks.

The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo made an agreement with ABC television to have the episode taped here. The location will be the Springs Resort and Spa. Airing is at 7 p.m. local time.

Tourism officials hope that 9 million viewers will get a glimpse at Costa Rica through the show. La Fortuna is adjacent to the Arenal volcano. This is the 15th season for the reality show.


Consul general will speak
at American Legion meeting


The February meeting of American Legion Post 10 will be held today at Club Cubano in Guachipelin, Escazu. The meeting begins at noon and is followed by a no-host lunch.

The guest speaker will be Paul Birdsall, the counsul general of the U.S. Embassy.  Birdsall will explain what the embassy can and can not do for U.S. citizens residing in or visiting Costa Rica.

All U.S. military veterans are invited to attend post meetings. Information about the post and a map with directions to Club Cubano are available on the post's Web site.


Only five quakes in January


January was low on earthquakes strong enough to be felt by humans.

The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica reported only five quakes during the month. They ranged from 2.5 to 3.9 magnitude. Two were in the Central Valley and were caused by local faults, the observatory said.

Two were in the central Pacific and the fifth was in the southern zone.


Google fights Spanish law
over mentions on Internet


In a Madrid court, the technology giant Google is fighting a Spanish order to remove some data from search queries. The case centers on a principle of Spanish law known as "the right to be forgotten," and it's Google's latest clash with European privacy laws.

Let's say someone accuses somone of a crime. The local newspaper picks up the accusation, but then the accused defends him or herself, and is proven innocent. Years later, that newspaper report may still exist somewhere on the Internet. Do the people involved have a right to have it omitted?

That's the question a Madrid court is debating, in a case between the tech giant Google and Spain's data protection agency. Spanish authorities filed 90 court orders against Google, on behalf of Spanish citizens who want links to libelous information about them dropped from Google searches. Here in Spain, their desire is enshrined in law, and called "the right to be forgotten."

"The general argument is what we call derecho al olvido, the kind of right to be forgotten, and it's based on the right of every single individual and citizen to claim for his or her data to be used in a proper manner,” said Paloma Llaneza, a data protection lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs. “Just to explain it in a very simple way, when you are Googling someone and you are finding some information, what we ask is to delete, or to make not available that information through Google."

Google did not respond to requests for an interview. But the company has issued previous statements saying it's not its job to censor the Internet. Google says it's your local newspaper's responsibility to eliminate any false reports — not Google's. The tech company refused the Spanish orders, and it's all being argued now in court.

Llaneza says it's an issue of respecting Spanish law, if Google wants to do business here.