Data protection

Commenting on the proposals, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Jan Philipp Albrecht said:

“Including modern communication methods such as Skype and WhatsApp under data protection rules for electronic communication is a long overdue reform that reflects the way many people communicate today. However, the rules around tracking user activity are completely back to front. Service providers should require the explicit consent of users if they want to track their activity; under these proposals, they would be able to assume consent unless the user says otherwise.

“The default service should always be the most data protection-friendly, as stipulated by the existing data protection regulation. We know that intelligence agencies are applying blanket data collection and service providers should respond by doing everything technically possible to secure the fundamental right of privacy. We expect the European Parliament and Council to bring forward the changes needed to make sure this promising package truly delivers for users.”