Related to the previous blog entry, an editorial in yesterday’s New York Times:
… Now, European policy makers are proposing to harmonize new, tougher rules across the 27-member union.
Several proposals would go well beyond the voluntary policies of companies like Google. They would require companies to obtain permission before collecting personal data and specify exactly what information will be collected and how it will be used. If asked, companies would have to provide users with data that has been collected about them and allow them to fix mistakes. One proposal would include a so-called “right to be forgotten” that would make it mandatory for companies like Facebook to delete all information about users who want to wipe the slate clean.
Internet companies and the Obama administration are lobbying against some of the measures, which they argue would place onerous restrictions on services that people want to use and impede the sharing of information between Europe and the United States, particularly between law enforcement agencies. But privacy advocates say that those concerns are overblown and that most Internet companies and news sites would easily get the consent of users who already willingly hand them personal information.
Read more on The New York Times.