[hannasanarion]

GDPR doesn't require that you do that. GDPR has other exceptions that you could plead very easily: undue hardship, archival, public interest, compliance with other laws, scientific research, and establishing legal claims. What would you need my name for if not one of those?

[methodover]

Maybe I want to remember your name because, let's say, I want to pray for all my customers every Sunday. Or perhaps I want to try and memorize all my customer's names so I can use your name when I see you come in my shop. Or perhaps to track patterns of purchases by my customers. Or perhaps because I think it's important to have a track record of everyone I've sold to, and when, for purposes to be discovered later down the line that I can't think of right now.

In America, I don't need a reason for writing your name down. In the EU on the other hand, all personal data needs to be deleted, unless a specific government-approved exemption applies, as you said.

Quoting the US Supreme Court, in Chicago v. Mosley, 1972:

> Above all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content. To permit the continued building of our politics and culture, and to assure self-fulfillment for each individual, our people are guaranteed the right to express any thought, free from government censorship [1]

I'm pretty sure that if the GDPR was copied and pasted into a US law, the Right to be Forgotten would be struck down as unconstitutional very quickly.

1. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/408/92/case.html