On Thursday 19 October, MEPs on the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee adopted their negotiating position on the protection of privacy in e-communications ('e-privacy'). All the compromise amendments were adopted, including default parameters and the ban on tracking walls (see EUROPE 11886).
The report, prepared by Marju Lauristin (S&D, Estonia), reflects the European Parliament’s negotiating position for talks with the other institutions and was adopted by 31 to 25. It is still possible, however, for at least a tenth of MEPs to request at the next plenary for the text to be put to be voted on by the whole of the European Parliament. The Council of Ministers needs to decide on its negotiating position before interinstitutional talks can actually begin.
Going over the report with a fine toothcomb
The MEPs propose to make prior consent a necessary precondition for using private data from e-communications. They introduced derogations, however, for statistics on user behaviour and measures to ensure the security of information technology. The report’s two key measures are default parameters in favour of privacy and a ban on tracking walls (a practice whereby users refusing to be tracked via cookies, for example, would be prevented from accessing a website or app). These two measures were reintroduced into the compromise amendments following a decision by some MEPs to not support the amendments (see EUROPE 11700).
As was to be expected, the vote has garnered a wide range of reaction. The S&D, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL, joined by the European Bureau of Consumer Unions (BEUC) and the Association of digital rights and freedoms (EDRI) welcomed the outcome. They say these are ambitious standards to protect consumer rights. Monique Goyens, BEUC director general, said it was disturbing that online companies, which claim to be pioneers and the engine of the digital economy, are sticking to a publicity business model based on surveillance of individuals. she said that the fact that it is the European Parliament that has been putting consumers in command is a real move forward. The EPP group, joined by the European employers' federation BusinessEurope, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the digital industry, Digital Europe, criticised Parliament's position for not favouring innovation or the test of time.
Left-right split
More than anything else, it is the left-right split at the European Parliament that is being commented on. The EPP decided to withdraw its support for the compromise amendments just two days ahead of the vote, on the grounds that they did not allow enough derogations to prior consent (see EUROPE 11885). It wanted consent only to be requested for future processing or in the case of legitimate interests. Shadow EPP rapporteur Michal Boni (Poland) said that data processing was in the public interest as it allows sexually exploitative material involving children to be detected and prevention of epidemics by identifying areas of risk. This data processing cannot be carried out if today’s rules come into force. He added that the EPP would continue to fight for the restoration of a balance between privacy, security and innovation. Rapporteur Marju Lauristin responded immediately, describing the argument of preventing sexual exploitation online as a ‘barefaced lie’ and criticising the massive lobbying of the EPP group by industry in Germany and elsewhere.
Case taken up by Birgit Sippel
Marju Lauristin will hand the report over to colleague Birgit Sippel (S&D, Germany), due to local elections in Estonia. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)