Brussels, 06/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption of the report by Axel Voss (EPP, Germany) on Wednesday 6 July, the European Parliament is recommending tougher rules for the protection of data and privacy. Amongst other things, the MEPs are calling for children who use social networking sites to be protected and state the view that all European citizens should have the right to know what information about them is being stored and for what purpose.
The citizens “must be able to remove, correct or easily block their data, and be informed of any abusive use or data protection error”, states the EP. The people concerned must be able to have their data removed, corrected or blocked with no administrative cost and be informed of any abusive use of violation of the data, state the MEPs. This report aims to influence the current revision of the 1995 directive on the protection of personal data, steered by Commissioner Viviane Reding, who has issued a press release welcoming the EP's vote and the fact that it supports the Commission's ideas and, in particular, strengthening the citizens' rights to controlling the use of their data. (S.P./transl.fl)