The European Union is placing Facebook and Google in the eye of the storm. The battle for online privacy has been building up for the last couple of years. Last March 13th the European Commission gave these two major corporations an ultimatum. European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding, drafted what could be named as The Charter of Fundamental Rights for the Online User. She declared that to protect users’ privacy online, four pillars should be followed:
1. The right to be forgotten- making it a rule that all Social Networks and Searching Engines give the option to erase our personal data completely.
2. Transparency- citizens must be informed at all moments of the use that is being made of their personal data and by whom.
3. Privacy by default- and not the other way round. So that users don't have to "decode" the web to find the "Privacy Settings" application.
4. Protection regardless of data location- meaning that it’s the users’ location and not the sites' the one that establishes what legislation applies. If a service is offered in Europe it must abide by the European Law.
Both Facebook and Google have a long way to go before they can be self-defined by these four pillars. "Article 29 Working Party" (an advisory body of the Commission) declared that Facebook changed its default privacy settings to those of "open status" days after they attended a plenary meeting held by the European Commission in online privacy matters. It seems like the blue giant has been playing around in the European field trying to elude all the measures.
Both Facebook and Google have been issuing patents on new applications that put in jeopardy users privacy (see Curated Search and Face Recognition respectively). In their race for technological supremacy these sites aren't realizing how privacy is being placed in jeopardy. At this rate we could be the characters in Jorge Orwells' "1984" science fiction novel!
In order to put control to this situation regulations must tighten. The Article 29 Working Party insists on some basic measures that would help improve online privacy:
- Homepages should have a direct link to a complaint site where users could give their opinion on covering data protection issues.
- Sites should obtain personal consent of users to send them target advertising.
- Data on sensitive topics such as race, religion or sexual orientation should be completely private.
- Individuals should be allowed to adopt a pseudonym.
And of course, special attention was given to the gathering of minors personal data due to the strong influence these sites have on young adults.
It looks like the European Union is going to give these sites a tuff time. Maybe someone else will support the cause. Check this link for interested affiliations to Facebook Privacy Groups :)
Links:
"EU privacy watchdogs say Facebook changes 'unacceptable'",by Out-Law.com. The Register
"Facebook Feeling More Privacy Pain in Europe", Mathew Ingram. Gigaom
"The Review of the EU Data Protection Framework" by Viviane Reding. Europe Press Release
- Hot Girls Wage Lawsuit Against Facebook Privacy, Babelgum Comedy
Article 29 Working Party 1
Article 29 Working Party 2
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