EU to cut digital red tape and extend rights to privacy

The EU has announced plans for the new legislation that could have a worldwide impact on the internet. The proposals were outlined last week by EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding and have been widely highlighted in the media as promoting individual internet users ‘right to be forgotten’.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ alludes to aspects of the proposals that will tighten internet data privacy and require internet companies to completely destroy all the information it holds on an individual if it was requested.

This requirement would not only be enforced on companies based in Europe, but also any global company providing services within the EU, with substantial penalties for companies failing to comply.

Press attention immediately focused on the effect the legislation will have on internet giants, like Google and Facebook, who carry vast amounts of personal data in their memory banks. Fines of 2% of annual global turnover for non-compliance (which in Google’s case would be over £500 million) are likely to be a big incentive to conform.

The proposals have already been heavily criticised in the technology community as being difficult to implement and potentially damaging to future internet use in Europe.

The proposals however also contain provisions that could help internet businesses operating across the continent. One of the central planks of the reform is to replace national data protection legislation with one law that will apply across all the Community’s 27 member countries. This will drastically cut red tape and reduce companies’ costs.

The proposals are scheduled to become law by the end of 2013 and are sure to be the subject of feverish debate across the world wide web. Web dessigners and social media marketing experts will be keeping a close eye on developments.