Brussels delays data protection reforms
Complex overhaul
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The European Commission has effectively pushed back plans to overhaul the Data Protection Directive by up to a year under pressure from national regulators.
Commissioner Viviane Reding said in March that she would publish her legislative proposals by the end of this year, but that deadline has now been abandoned. Instead, this year the Commission will merely outline its plans for action later.
"This will be the first step for a legislative proposal that will then follow in the course of the next 10 months," a spokeswoman told The Register.
French media have reported that their equivalent of the Information Commissioner's Office, CNIL, told Reding that her original timetable to revise the directive was unrealistic. She met national regulators on July 14, at a meeting of their Article 29 Working Group.
"The revision will be done in very close cooperation with the national data protection authorities because they are the ones who have to enforce EU data protection rules in their countries," her spokeswoman said today.
The Data Protection Directive is now 15 years old, and was conceived long before mass internet adoption. Reding has proposed an extensive revamp to take account of recent technologies such as social networking, cloud computing and behavioural advertising.
She also wants to bring use and sharing of personal data by law enforcement agencies under normal data protection legislation. Such activity is currently governed by separate "third pillar" laws that mean the Commission has no enforcement powers when abuses are revealed.
The Commission is currently considering 160 responses to a data protection consultation before proceeding on its new schedule.
"It is important to have high/quality legislation at European level that sets 'gold' standards for Europe's citizens when it comes to the protection of their data," it said. ®
COMMENTS
@"revamp to take account of recent technologies"
I hear the sound bytes and warm fuzzy feeling words, but no way in hell do I believe they are really going to help us, no matter what they say. It'll be a few good sounding things and a lot of small print that totally undermines what we think we are gaining (as usual).
Sadly I get a distinct feeling "data protection" sounds these days more like doublespeak for "data exploitation" laws.
So I can't wait to see what happens to these so called "data protection" laws after all the lobby groups have had their say. :(
(p.s. If I'm cynical its because I'm now old enough to remember enough political lies to no longer trust a word they say and be on my guard whenever they do make changes, because they are always seeking some hidden goal).
Too much protection, eh?
"The European Commission has effectively pushed back plans to overhaul the Data Protection Directive by up to a year under pressure from national regulators."
To me that reads as "too much data protection suggested, have to do something to prevent that."
We'll see.
RE: @"revamp to take account of recent technologies"
>> So I can't wait to see what happens to these so called "data protection" laws after all the lobby groups have had their say. :(
But don't forget that it is EU directives that give us what we do have in this country, and it's because if EU directives that the UK has been told to explain why it doesn't have adequate protection in place for it's citizens - cf Phorm and the UK's total lack of action against the guilty parties.
And already said, Vivien Reding seems (on past performance) like the sort of person that doesn't take the corporate bovine derived fertiliser at face value.
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