New EU Data Directive, Actually pretty good

[ArneHD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16677370

EU proposes 'right to be forgotten' by internet firms

A new law promising internet users the "right to be forgotten" will be proposed by the European Commission on Wednesday.

It says people will be able to ask for data about them to be deleted and firms will have to comply unless there are "legitimate" grounds to retain it.

Other measures in the bill include an obligation on all firms to notify users and the authorities about data lost through hacking attacks or other breaches "as soon as possible".

Some tech firms have expressed concern about the reach of the new bill.

...

A spokesman for the commissioner clarified that the action was designed to help teenagers and young adults manage their online reputations.

This is the first draft for the bill and so far I think it looks pretty good. It certainly makes putting those pictures involving you, a goat and 500 shaved lemurs on Facebook a bit more safe.

The main concern is what constitutes "Legitimate". They state in the article that police and medical records are not subject to this and such things as newspaper archives are also not subject to this.

 

[Lillefix]

Using the qualifier "actually" is a bit undeserved imo. In an article about why Norway accepted all these EU-rules without ever complaining about it, a professor said that the main reason was that most of these rules were quite reasonable.

In any case. I fully support this.

 

[ArneHD]

Using the qualifier "actually" is a bit undeserved imo. In an article about why Norway accepted all these EU-rules without ever complaining about it, a professor said that the main reason was that most of these rules were quite reasonable.

In any case. I fully support this.

The "actually" is undeserved, but you have to admit, it does flow a little better.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Yeah, it's pretty decent. Additionally, social networks are supposed to be required by law that the default setting when creating a profile is maximum privacy (and not the opposite).
Meanwhile, facebook had decided to make its new timeline profile mandatory. Which makes me wonder about google+

 

[amadeus]

New "rights" out of thin air?

Will EU citizens be able to tell their governments to erase all their data about them? That one might actually be useful!

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Where do suppose "rights" come from otherwise?
And yes we get it, governments are eeeevil.

 

[Benefactor]

New "rights" out of thin air?

Why not? That's where the others came from isn't it?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

No silly, they are god given.

 

[Winner]

No silly, they are god given.

That is a scary thought; if that were the case we'd have none.

 

[Quackers]

Yeah, it's pretty decent. Additionally, social networks are supposed to be required by law that the default setting when creating a profile is maximum privacy (and not the opposite).
Meanwhile, facebook had decided to make its new timeline profile mandatory. Which makes me wonder about google+

If that mandatory timeline thing goes ahead I'm leaving FB!

 

[Virote_Considon]

That is a scary thought; if that were the case we'd have none.

What about the right to receive a good smiting?

 

[The_J]

There are also problems with it. Sadly can't find an english source, so a translation of a german one has to do it:

Das geplante EU-Verbraucherrecht auf digitales Vergessen hält Verbraucherministerin Ilse Aigner für gefährlich: Sie fürchtet, dass damit Onlineredaktionen zur Löschung unerwünschter Nachrichten in ihren Archiven gezwungen werden könnten.
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Verbraucherschutzministerin Ilse Aigner (CSU) hat davor gewarnt, dass eine EU-einheitliche Neuregelung des Verbraucherschutzes unbeabsichtigt zur Einschränkung der Pressefreiheit im Internet führen könnte. Aigner sagte der Tageszeitung Die Welt: "Eine EU-Vorgabe darf nicht dazu führen, dass Onlineredaktionen oder Zeitungsverlage verpflichtet werden könnten, Artikel nachträglich auf Klage eines Einzelnen aus den Archiven zu nehmen. So wichtig Datenschutz für den Einzelnen ist - wir müssen immer die Grundrechte abwägen und dürfen nicht zulassen, dass die Presse- und Meinungsfreiheit in Gefahr gerät."

The planed EU law about the right to be forgotten is in the opinion of the german minister of consumer rights, Ilse Aigner, dangerous: She fears that online news sites could be forced to delete older articles in their archives.

Minister of consumer rights Ilse Aigner (CSU) warns that the EU wide new regulation of the consumer rights might unintentationally lead to a restriction of press freedom in the internet. Aigner said to the newspaper "Die Welt": "An EU guideline mustn't lead to the point, that online news desks are obliged to delete their older news articles in the case single person fills a suit against them. The data privacy of the people is important - but we have to balance the fundamental rigths and we mustn't allow that the freedom of press or speech can get in danger."

 

[Mise]

But newspaper archives are exempt.

“The right to be forgotten is of course not an absolute right. There are cases where there is a legitimate and legally justified interest to keep data in a data base. The archives of a newspaper are a good example. It is clear that the right to be forgotten cannot amount to a right of the total erasure of history. Neither must the right to be forgotten take precedence over freedom of expression or freedom of the media.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2012/01/23/reding-details-sweeping-changes-to-e-u-data-laws/

 

[Cutlass]

New "rights" out of thin air?

Will EU citizens be able to tell their governments to erase all their data about them? That one might actually be useful!

So reclaiming private property and personal liberty for the individual people is bad now?


Actually this is deliciously ironic. Socialist Europe is vastly ahead of capitalist-individualist US in the protection of property and personal freedom and liberty. It should be a wake-up call to all those who want government to do nothing.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

That's the standard dilemma of personality rights conflicting with freedom of speech/press. And the standard solution should work just fine? Exclusion of data/info of public interest.
edit: lol (referring to the post of Mise)
That then almost looks like the case of a politician trying to look good by upholding the European bogeyman. While not the typical case of it. Or maybe she just was demanded to say something and spontaneously tried to look all smart and full of consideration.

 

[aronnax]

Well that's a good right to have. Though does this mean that government officials have to regularly have check-ups on sites like Facebook to make sure that personal information is indeed forgotten?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

So reclaiming private property and personal liberty for the individual people is bad now?

If it forces corpoprations to erase data, yes. It's government telling business what to do.
The government can't do anything to promote liberty , because government action is in principle anathema to liberty.

Actually this is deliciously ironic. Socialist Europe is vastly ahead of capitalist-individualist US in the protection of property and personal freedom and liberty. It should be a wake-up call to all those who want government to do nothing.

Not really, Socialist Europe has a history of stronger worker and consumer protection, but the again I can't buy a gun (though I value my freedom to drink in public more than I would value the freedom to own a gun).

 

[Leoreth]

Actually this is deliciously ironic. Socialist Europe is vastly ahead of capitalist-individualist US in the protection of property and personal freedom and liberty. It should be a wake-up call to all those who want government to do nothing.

But government-guaranteed freedom is freedom of the wrong flavor. True freedom can only be secured with a shotgun and if affordable, private police forces.

 

[amadeus]

So reclaiming private property and personal liberty for the individual people is bad now?

It isn't property and people agreed to the terms of the web site. If you don't like it, don't join.

 

[warpus]

If it forces corpoprations to erase data, yes. It's government telling business what to do.
The government can't do anything to promote liberty , because government action is in principle anathema to liberty.

Without government we'd have anarchy and a loss of a number of liberties. With that in mind, what you said is incorrect.