EU launches bid to enable Internet users’ control of personal data

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Commission launched Wednesday, January 25 a bid to make companies including Internet giants such as Google or Facebook give people more control of their personal data or be fined up to one million euros, AFP reported.

The proposal championed by EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding would force all companies to get explicit 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 ($1.30 million), or two percent of annual turnover. Citing a survey showing 72 percent of Europeans worry their data may be misused, Reding pressed her case to give people "the right to be forgotten" from the Internet by allowing them to make their data vanish from the web.

With each country in the 27-state European Union enforcing its own data protection laws, the legislation would create a single EU law for all nations as well as companies offering services in Europe, even if 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+.