 |
| Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg testifies earlier this week about the data breaches at the social media which have sparked calls for tougher rules (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB) |
Brussels
(Belgium) (AFP) - Sensing the Facebook scandal has shifted the transatlantic
winds, the EU is asserting itself as a forward-looking regulator rather than a
retrograde bulwark against Silicon Valley's innovative might.
After years
of mounting concern, the European Union will introduce tough new data
protection rules next month, which Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg himself has
welcomed in the face of the latest scandals.
The General
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on May 25, gives web
users much greater control over how their personal information is stored and
used, with big fines for companies that break the rules.
"I was
really desperate about thinking how to make the best possible campaign for GDPR
so now this is well done, so thank you Mr Zuckerberg," the EU's justice
and consumer affairs commissioner Vera Jourova told reporters in Brussels this
week.
"His
declaration that they want to expand our European rules globally, it's only
good news, it sounds very nice to me."
The GDPR is
not the only EU action that has triggered accusations of protectionism against
the new digital economy. It has also drawn fire over its massive anti-trust
fines against Google and Apple as well as plans to tax internet giants.
During
questioning by US senators on Tuesday over the Cambridge Analytica scandal,
Zuckerberg said Facebook was "committed to rolling out the controls and
the affirmative consent" required by the new EU rules "around the
world".
Under the
new rules, companies will need explicit consent from users to share their data
with third parties and people will have the right to know what personal
information is stored about them and to ask for it to be deleted.
Breaches
can lead to heavy fines -- up to four percent of a company's global turnover.
Zuckerberg
said he took personal responsibility for the fact that 87 million people's
personal data was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a firm which
worked for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
'Wake-up
call'
The
Facebook chief "had always said the opposite, that it was going to kill
the internet," said Viviane Reding, the centre-right European Parliament
member who initiated the GDPR when she was a European commissioner in 2012.
"Now
our regulation is seen as a positive step for the internet's future
development," she told AFP.
Reding said
the Cambridge Analytica scandal was a "wake-up call" to the United
States in the same way that whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations about
mass US intelligence surveillance was to Europe.
The US
senators who questioned Zuckerberg "studied closely the European
legislation," Reding said. "They understood that this model is not an
internet killer, but the basis for its balanced development."
European
Parliament member Maria Joao Rodrigues, a Portuguese socialist, said times have
changed, recalling how even some European governments had initially opposed the
GDPR.
"US
congressmen are contacting us at the European Parliament to learn about our
experience," Rodrigues told AFP.
Jan
Albrecht, a German MEP from the Greens party, said Europeans have demonstrated
they have taken a "necessary step" to protect data, not stall the
economy.
"The
far-sightedness that the EU has shown is confirmed," Albrecht told AFP,
recalling those who said "we must not create any hurdles for the digital
economy".
'Extremely proud'
He said
Europeans should stop doubting themselves and "be extremely proud"
that they are leading the way and that their market is big enough to "set
standards" for the rest of the world.
"The
US Congress has failed to do so for years and left legislative initiatives
untreated," Albrecht said.
Guillermo
Beltra, a legal expert with the European consumers association BEUC, said the
GDPR is a great example of the EU showing industry where "innovation
should go towards", with society demanding citizen privacy first.
No comments:
Post a Comment