The Supreme Court has issued its very first decision citing conditions for allowing for the deletion of information from internet search results, although its ruling made no mention of the "right to be forgotten," a concept increasingly gaining ground in Europe.

The Jan. 31 decision laid down several points that need to be considered in balancing privacy protection with information disclosure on the internet.

It created some hurdles for deletion and rejected the case that led to the ruling. The case was filed by a man who wanted Google Inc. to remove search results that mentioned information about his November 2011 arrest for child prostitution.