The Commission intends to submit telecommunication services such as Whatsapp and Viber to its new private life rules, according to leaks that have appeared in the press. Whilst awaiting the final legislative drafts in January 2017, the Commission published the complete results of its public consultation, as well as a Eurobarometer survey on this subject on Monday 19 December.
Directive 2002/58/EC on private life regulates the way in which telecommunication service providers have to manage the data of their subscribers. It also guarantees the subscribers’ rights when they use these services. After an initial review in 2009 (introducing new requirements on cookies and personal data violations), the Commission is getting ready to present amended rules in January 2017. These will seek to take into account the new regulations and a directive on data protection and technological developments, which will enter into force in May 2018.
According to a number of leaks, the Commission is planning to submit telecommunication services such as Skype, Whatsapp and Viber – to new rules, in an effort to limit the way in which they use the data of their users (such as localisation data, for example). It is also said to be planning new rules that would compel websites and browsers, such as Google Chrome, to switch from a default of allowing users to opt out of online advertising to asking them to opt in to view adverts based on their browsing history, according to a leaked draft of new proposals from the European Commission.
Finally, the Commission intends to revise the rules on cookies (a kind of tracing device) but does not intend to prevent their use. It intends to make the rules more flexible on notifications, such as the unpopular pop-up boxes that demonstrate when a website is following a user. Websites that use cookies to monitor the number of visitors, for example, will no longer be obliged to warn users.
On 19 December, the Commission published the complete results of its public consultation (completing the preliminary results published on 23 August) (see EUROPE 11606) as well as the result of a Eurobarometer survey carried out among 27,000 stakeholders. According to this survey, more than 70% of citizens consider the protection of their personal data to be very important and feel a need to be consulted before this information can be used. 9/10 people say they should be able to encrypt their data and 6/10 believes they receive too many unsolicited commercial calls.
Andrus Ansip, vice president in charge of the Digital Single Market, explained, “Europeans want more protection of their private lives when they send messages and talk to one another online or by way of traditional services. Our goal is to strengthen trust and security through digital services, in an effort to stimulate the single digital market”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)