Justice Commissioner Vivianne Reding

Digital giants like Facebook and Google are facing another bid by the European Commission to prevent them from using people’s data without their ‘explicit consent’.
Companies like Facebook and Google make billions of dollars a year from collecting data on people who use their services. This data is analysed and packaged in such a way that allows other companies target individuals with advertisements and offers.
The EC, however, see this an affront to individual privacy and EU Justice Commissioner Vivianne Reding wants to force all web companies that collect data in such a way to get explicit consent from their customers and users.
The Commissioner wants web firms to be transparent about how this information is used. She also wants to give users the right to completely erase any information they may have shared or posted online during their lifetime.
Commissioner Reding is determined to introduce stiff penalties for companies that don’t comply, including a €1 million fine or a fine of 2% of annual turnover.
Reding says the EC’s goal is to give people greater control over the information they share online. She believes each country should have a data protection authority whose role is to deal with complaints by consumers, carry out investigations and impose sanctions.
“This is a world of breathtaking possibilities and it should stay so,” she says. “It should be a world of innovation but there are also dangers around these new technologies [cloud computing and social networks] especially concerning the [loss of control] of one’s personal data.”

Timeline in the firing line
Facebook’s new ‘Timeline’ feature (see video below), which brings back a user’s entire Facebook history for everyone to see is also being scrutinised by the EC. The idea that Timeline could reveal a person’s ‘digital skeletons’ is something that doesn’t sit well with privacy advocates.

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