New Law that website owners need to be aware of !

[domaingenius]

By Tim Bradshaw in London and Nikki Tait in Brussels

Published: March 29 2011 13:30 | Last updated: March 29 2011 15:29

Ed Vaizey, the UK’s communications minister, has questioned the practicality of planned additions to the European data protection directive, warning against creating “false expectations” over a proposed “right to be forgotten” for internet users.

Speaking at a London event about e-privacy hosted by the CBI employers’ group, Mr Vaizey called for greater harmony between international lawmakers when it comes to the internet, as authorities in Europe and the US consider stronger measures to protect consumers’ personal data.

This month Viviane Reding, the EU justice commissioner, said that websites such as Google and Facebook would be bound by European privacy law, even though they store data in the US. A review of data protection laws is expected to conclude this summer.

Ms Reding has indicated changes will include a “right to be forgotten”, whereby website owners must delete photos or other information about a person on their request, and greater transparency over how consumer data are handled.

The CBI is among the bodies opposing the “right to be forgotten”, suggesting that it could create unintended consequences such as restricting freedom of speech.

Mr Vaizey said the proposal would be difficult to enforce.

“How do we force a website hosted in Calcutta to take down an image uploaded in Croydon?” he asked. “We should not give people false expectations. No government can guarantee that photos shared with the world will be deleted by everyone when someone decides it’s time to forget.”

EU officials, however, are very strongly wedded to the “right to be forgotten” principle. One official said on Tuesday that the revised directive needed to make it “crystal-clear” that users have full control over their data – in terms of access, the right to rectify and the right to delete. “People can give consent – but there should also be the ability to take back that consent,” he said.

Mr Vaizey said that online privacy rules should reflect the fact that the internet did not respect national boundaries. “For the sake of web users and businesses we need a unified and consistent approach to online privacy that crosses borders.”

The minister added that he supported greater transparency and control over data, but warned that in implementing the revisions, “we need to think carefully about how to ensure that they do not stifle innovation”.

The UK government was concerned about “multiple compliance burdens” on multinational companies, Mr Vaizey said. He called on the European and US authorities to “move towards a unified approach that will benefit consumers and businesses alike on both sides of the Atlantic”.

A representative from one large US internet company said that Mr Vaizey appeared to be more sceptical of the “right to be forgotten” than any minister of any European country. “It obviously matters a huge deal to just about every web company,” he said.

Ms Reding herself has already stressed the need for the rules to be “business-friendly” but argued that, unlike in the recent past, there is now a good opportunity to put US and EU policies on a similar track.

In a speech last week, she pointed to the Obama administration’s announcement that it would work with Congress to produce a “privacy bill of rights”.

“This development – which is much welcomed in Europe – shows that we have much in common. Convergence is springing up,” she said.