Article for November 9th

Words which may be new:

to come under fire for something

mandate (n,v)

to hit the industry hard

breach (n,v)

grant (n,v)

absorbed

deprive

bogged down

cookies (computer not confectionary)

to enforce

to break into something

merely

flexibility 

WSJ: EU Proposes New Plan For Online Privacy Rights

By John W. Miller, Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The European Union on Thursday proposed new privacy rights for citizens sharing personal data with such websites as Facebook and Google, threatening to heighten tensions with U.S. tech companies and a fast-growing online advertising industry.

Both Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. have come under fire in the EU this year for collecting personal data without authorization.

The proposed EU rules suggest the creation of an online "right to be forgotten." That would impart to users the power to tell websites to permanently delete personal data. The rules also mandate that users give explicit consent before companies can use or process their personal data in any way. The 20-page document also criticizes the companies' current privacy policies as opaque.

The document, a proposed rewriting of a 1995 data-protection law, suggests that a "shift of focus" is necessary to deal with a new generation of websites that come with "significant challenges" to protecting users' privacy. "Ways of collecting personal data have become increasingly elaborated and less easily detectable," the document says.

"The protection of personal data is a fundamental right," said EU commissioner for justice Viviane Reding, who is overseeing the proposed regulation. "To guarantee this right, we need clear and consistent data-protection rules. We also need to bring our laws up to date with the challenges raised by new technologies and globalization."

The proposal recommends giving consumers the right to sue companies for privacy breaches and even suggests criminal penalties.

Europe's online advertising industry has argued that putting the onus on Internet users to explicitly grant consent for websites to use personal data, as opposed to allowing them to opt out of having such data shared, would hit the industry hard. It would reduce the numbers of Internet users receiving targeted advertising and thereby, they argue, deprive them of free services.

Free content and services, such as email funded by Internet advertising, is valued at EUR69 billion ($97 billion) annually to Europeans, according to a recent report from consultants McKinsey & Co.

John Vassallo, Microsoft Corp.'s Brussels-based counsel, said it is too early to say what effect the new rules might have. "If the balance of privacy is right, the business costs will be absorbed," he said. "The industry will make its voice heard."

Mr. Vassallo, also chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Brussels, said he didn't think it would fuel trans-Atlantic tensions. "European companies are also affected," he said. In the end, he added, industry would like to see a global treaty on data protection.

The EU, whose 27 member nations tend to have stricter privacy cultures than the U.S., sees itself as a leader in the fight for online privacy. It will be a challenge, however, to put these laws into full force.

The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, will submit the new proposal as legislation next year. It will then be debated and amended by EU members and the European Parliament before becoming law. EU countries must then write the rules into their national legislations. Justice commission officials said Thursday they will be aggressive about taking EU members to court if they don't enforce the new rules.

A similar effort to mandate user consent for placing cookies, or small code files, on personal computers is currently bogged down by lack of clarity over the mechanics of gaining user consent. EU members must write the 2009 e-Privacy directive into national law by May 2011, but it remains unclear what the practical consequences will be for browser and online ad firms.

Privacy advocates praised the commission's new approach. "The consumer's right to privacy should not be undermined merely because it has become easier and more profitable to break it in the virtual world," said Monique Goyens, director of the European Consumers Organization.

Google and Facebook declined to offer immediate comment.

What tech companies want is a single set of rules for the entire EU, said Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology, a Brussels lobby group. "Today's communication is an opportunity to start building a unified data-protection system which will bring more flexibility and legal certainty" to tech companies, he said.