Scott M. Fulton, III writes:
The Associated Press this afternoon quoted European Commission Vice President Viviane Reding as stating that the E.U. government should not only federalize its approach to granting safe harbor for social networks, but essentially should hold all Internet service providers on the continent, including social networks, responsible for informing Internet users when personal information is being collected from them.
The quote seemed a little fishy, so ReadWriteWeb this morning ran it past Comm. Reding’s spokesperson, Matthew Newman. As it turns out, according to Newman’s information, the AP quote was indeed taken out of context.
[…]
In the actual speech this morning, what Comm. Reding actually did call for was for the continent’s laws regarding how service providers protect personal data, to be streamlined. Rather than a single, federalized approach (which Reding is quoted as having called for, and which in actuality she did not), she spoke on behalf of new guidelines that would hold each European service provider responsible not for 27 member states’ laws simultaneously, but only the laws in that provider’s native country.
Such a system would not – contrary to the AP headline – replace national laws. Instead, it would decide that service providers are beholden to only one set of national laws – those of its native country.
Read more on ReadWriteWeb.
So was the report in The Telegraph wrong, too? If Facebook only has to follow U.S. laws….