Data protection issues have long been a source of controversy. The proliferation of global Internet companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter have crystallised conflicts between the privacy interests of individuals and commercial aspirations.
In 2012 the European Commission published a draft Regulation that, if adopted, will replace the current Data Protection Directive. The measure appears to attracted both support and opposition. A group of European academicshttp://euobserver.com/justice/119365 have launched an on-line petition supporting the Commission’s proposals. The European Parliament’s Justice Committee has adopted a report which calls for the Commission’s proposals to be strengthened still further.
This might be contrasted with the UK Parliament’s Justice Committee which has described some of the Commission’s proposals – including the so called ‘right to be forgotten’ as unworkable. Concerns are shared by some data protection authorities as this report in the Financial Times indicates. It is perhaps not surprising that the UK is mentioned. We abstained in the final vote on the existing Directive on the basis that the measure went too far. More surprising is that we have been joined by countries such as Germany who 18 years ago were concerned that the Directive did not go far enough.
The next year promises to be an interesting period for data protection. I suspect the saga still has a way to go.
