Public Policy Update - January 2007
Stepping up initiatives to deal with spam and data privacy
3. More scrutiny for companies handling personal data
Early in 2006, the European Commission published suggestions for reviewing the regulatory framework on e-communications which includes the e-Privacy Directive, and ran a public consultation on this review in the second half of 2006.
The Data Protection Article 29 Working Party responded by highlighting the vulnerability of private networks since the ePrivacy Directive only applies to publicly available electronic communications services. They added that private networks are becoming more important and the risks for privacy are growing as possibilities become more specific (e.g. monitoring employee behaviour through traffic data).
The Commission will present proposals by the summer of 2007. Further changes to the e-Privacy directive are possible in the context of the current initiatives on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
Impact on market research
Some of the suggested new requirements could lead to extra costs for business. While market research might not be directly affected, regulators have said that they would consider further regulations if it appears that consumers are unhappy with the research industry.
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