James Delahunty
29 Nov 2011 10:17
All member states to harmonize laws related to data protection.
The European Commission (EC) is seeking bloc-wide reform of data protection to update laws that were put in place by governments long before services like Facebook or Twitter were around.
European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding, said that services such as social networks need to be far more open about how they operate. She proposes that businesses (including ISPs) be endowed with new responsibilities to inform their users about data collection, what is being collected, what for, how, and so forth.
"All social network service providers active in the EU must fully comply with EU data protection laws," Reding said. "Companies have a specific responsibility when personal data is their main economic asset."
Reding is referring to the practice of using consumers' personal data in order to attract advertisers. A Eurobarometer survey conducted in the summer found that three quarters of Europeans questioned are concerned about how companies use private information they have stored about them.
Existing laws in the EU date back to 1995, which dealt with quite a different environment than of today. Draft legislation to update laws surrounding data protection is expected next year, but could take up to eighteen months to be approved by EU member states.
European national governments have differences where privacy issues are concerned, with France and Germany supporting stronger protections for citizens' privacy, and Britain taking a more market-friendly approach. Those differences would need to be ironed out for any pan-European solution to be adopted.