Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said
that the Commission would stamp out privacy invasions caused by
social networking websites and by radio frequency identification
(RFID) chips. RFID chips are radio signal emitting chips that
communicate with systems connected to a database to indicate the
physical presence of an object, be it a product or a person.
RFID chips have been promoted as a way for shops to manage
inventory or as a way for people to gain access to secure
buildings. Privacy advocates have expressed concerns that chips on
products or as part of building management systems will track
people's movements without their informed consent or full
understanding.
Reding said that RFID chips should be "used by the consumer and
not on the consumer."
"No European should carry a chip in one of their possessions
without being informed precisely what they are used for, with the
choice to remove or switch it off at any time," she said.
Reding also identified social networking sites as businesses
which are based on the use of information which people consider
private. She said that there were particular risks for young people
who may not understand the full implications of putting personal
data online.
"Privacy must in my view be a high priority for social
networking providers and their users," she said. "I firmly believe
that at least the profiles of minors must be private by default and
unavailable to internet search engines. The European Commission has
already called on social networking sites to deal with minors'
profiles carefully, by means of self-regulation. I am ready to
follow this up with new rules if I have to."
Reding's threat of action against providers who do not protect
privacy properly comes in the week that the Commission launched
legal proceedings against the UK for failing to force service
providers to protect privacy sufficiently.
Following complaints to the Commission and the police about BT
trials of Phorm's web use-tracking advertising system which were
undertaken without users' knowledge or permission, the Commission
said that the UK's privacy laws for communications were
inadequate.
It has demanded that the UK change the law to protect
communications from surveillance or interception in a way that is
more in line with European Union directives on the issues.
Reding said that the Commission's warnings came in the face of
increasing commercial pressure to gather and use personal
information that individuals, and not corporations, should be able
to retain control over.
"European privacy rules are crystal clear: a person's
information can only be used with their prior consent," she said.
"We cannot give up this basic principle, and have all our exchanges
monitored, surveyed and stored in exchange for a promise of 'more
relevant' advertising."
"I will not shy away from taking action where an EU country
falls short of this duty," she said.
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