The Commission and European Council insisted that a data breach
notification in a recent Telecoms Package of reforms only apply to
telecoms companies. The European Parliament had attempted to widen
its scope. That Package is currently under negotiation on the
single issue of file sharer disconnections after the Parliament
conceded ground on the data breach issue.
The Commission has now said that it will investigate the passing
of new EU-wide legislation forcing all kinds of organisation to
notify any data breaches to the relevant authorities and the people
affected.
"The Telecoms Reform has put the issue of mandatory notification
of personal data breaches firmly on the European policy agenda,"
said Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding at a meeting
last week organised by the European Data Protection Supervisor
(EDPS). "The reformed telecoms package, now awaiting final
agreement, will establish rules concerning the prevention,
management and reporting of data breaches in the electronic
communications sector."
"The Commission will go a step further to extend the debate to
generally applicable breach notification requirements and work on
possible legislative solutions. This will be done in close
consultation with the European Data Protection Supervisor and other
stakeholders."
The UK's privacy regulator the Information Commissioner's Office
(ICO) has never fully backed data notification breaches. They have
become law in many US states in recent years.
Supporters of such schemes say that the fear of public
recriminations for data loss will improve companies' performances,
while opponents fear that if every breach is revealed the public
will become desensitised to the issue of data loss.
Reding said that the Commission will consider further
legislation on the issue. "Our role is to understand what the
public policy challenges are; identify the proper mechanisms to
tackle them; and set the framework conditions – where necessary
through sector-specific legislation," she said.
Reding said that social networking was one area where
individuals were more exposed than ever to data loss. The emergence
of such services makes it more likely that an extension of data
breach notifications beyond telecoms providers will be needed, she
said.
"Technology and business are evolving very rapidly. New services
and business models bring new types of risks to privacy and
security. For example: social networking. It has, on the one hand,
a strong potential for new forms of communication; but on the other
hand it brings privacy concerns for internet users who put personal
information online. We have seen this in Germany recently where
sensitive data was illegally collected from one of the biggest
German social networks, Schueler VZ," she said.
"This clearly demonstrates that obligations to ensure protection
against data breaches cannot be limited to electronic
communications networks alone – but may need to be addressed in new
EU rules which cover online services as well," said Reding.
When it dropped its insistence on extending data breach
notifications outside the telecoms sector the European Parliament
adopted a text to act as a basis for its negotiations with the
Commission and Council on the issue.
"This general interest for users to be notified is clearly not
limited to the electronic communications sector and therefore
explicit, mandatory notification requirements applicable to all
sectors should be introduced at the Community level as a matter of
priority," it said.
The Article 29 Working Party has also backed the idea. It is the
committee formed by all of Europe's national data protection
watchdogs.
"An extension of personal data breach notifications to
Information Society Services is necessary given the ever increasing
role these services play in the daily lives of European citizens,
and the increasing amounts of personal data processed by these
services," it said earlier this year.
"Online transactions including access to e-banking services,
private sector medical records and online shopping are few examples
of services that may be subject to personal data breaches causing
significant risks to a large number of European citizens," it said.
"Limiting the scope of these obligations to publicly available
electronic communications services would only affect a very limited
number of stakeholders and thus would significantly reduce the
impact of personal data breach notifications as a means to protect
individuals against risks such as identity theft, financial loss,
loss of business or employment opportunities and physical
harm."
Reding also announced that the Commission would undertake a
review of information security policy as a whole.
"In 2010, the Commission intends to launch – as part of the
ambitious European Digital Agenda advocated by President Barroso in
his recent policy guidelines – a major initiative to modernise and
strengthen network and information security policy in the EU," she
said. "At the same time, I believe we should look at the emerging
challenges for privacy and trust in the broad information society,
with a particular emphasis on some of the outstanding issues which
were raised during the discussions on the revision of the ePrivacy
Directive, such as targeted advertising, convergence, the use of IP
addresses and on-line identifiers."
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