Brussels, 27/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - MEPs on the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee adopted an important draft directive on Wednesday 25 June 2008 on protecting the privacy of individuals on the internet, adding several Socialist amendments to the draft legislation to protect the rights of users of the web. A draft amendment was presented by German ALDE MEP Alexander Alvaro. It foresees that national regulatory authorities should be informed every time an invasion of privacy is detected. In serious invasions of privacy, the regulatory authorities would be able to require internet service suppliers (ISPs) to inform the user as soon as possible. The Socialists, led by Stavros Lambrinidis of Greece, some EPP-ED member and even a few influential members of the ALDE refused, however, to agree to the single document submitted by Alvaro, accused of giving in to pressure from industry lobbies without a fight. It was therefore agreed that ISPs should also be obliged to warn their clients of pirating to ensure there was no direct or imminent danger for the users' interests through, for example, identity theft or snooping on people's email. ISPs would be forced to list all security attacks in their annual reports. Likewise, when governments have access to personal data, ISPs will have to inform the regulatory authorities, which could send cases to court if governments abuse their authority. MEPs urged government to make it a crime to infringe the directive. They rejected the idea of restricting the protection of freedoms which would have favoured the CD and DVD industry's interests. The report will be examined by the European Parliament during its September plenary. (B.C.)