The European Commission has launched a controversial bid to force web giants such as Google or Facebook to give users more control over their personal data or face fines.
The proposal pushed by EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding would force web companies to get consent from customers to collect their data, explain how it will be used, and allow users to totally erase their information.
Failure to comply could cost a company a fine of up to one million euros.
“Personal data is the currency of today’s digital market. And like any currency it needs stability and trust,” Reding, who will unveil draft legislation later Wednesday, said in a speech in Munich on Tuesday.
“Only if consumers can trust that their data is well protected, will they continue to entrust businesses and authorities with it, buy online, and accept new services.”
With each country in the 27-state European Union enforcing its own data protection laws, Reding’s legislation would create a single EU law that would apply to all nations as well as companies offering services in Europe, even if their servers are overseas.
Reding’s goal is to give people greater control over their information in an era of social networking websites and “cloud” computing, technology allowing people to store pictures, documents and other data online.
Another innovation would allow consumers to take data from one website, say Facebook, and move it to another like Google+.
She also wants to give people “the right to be forgotten” by allowing them to make their data vanish from the web.
“The Internet has an almost unlimited search and memory capacity. So even tiny scraps of personal information can have a huge impact, even years after they were shared or made public,” she said.
“It is therefore important to empower EU citizens, particularly teenagers, to be in control of their own identity online.”
