EU Parliament committee reaches agreement on ePrivacy regulation
The LIBE committee of the European Parliament has reached an agreement on the ePrivacy regulation. However, the negotiation process has yet to begin with that; the Council and the European Parliament still have to give their opinion on the regulations.
MEP Jan Albrecht writes that ‘high standards for privacy, confidentiality and security for electronic communication are included in the proposal’. D66 MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld says she is positive about the content of the regulation, which must renew the rules from the old ePrivacy directive. Civil rights organization EDRi is also happy with the regulation and writes that ‘despite numerous lobbying attempts, the committee voted for clear and privacy-friendly rules’.
According to organization Access Now, the decision is an important step, but there is still room for improvement in the area of tracking protection. The French civil rights organization La Quadrature du Net is extremely critical and reports that the European Parliament has ‘failed to protect our privacy’. This organization also says that protection against online tracking can be improved.
The Article 29 Working Group, which brings together the privacy regulators of the EU Member States, also expressed its concerns about protection against tracking in April. The European Commission presented the new regulations in January. The rules ensure that the privacy rules that apply to providers will also apply to providers of electronic communication services. By this the Commission is referring to parties such as WhatsApp and Skype. For example, these providers must be able to guarantee the confidentiality of communication, so that the interception or tapping of data can only take place with the consent of the user.
Furthermore, regulations should end cookie walls by using browser settings, which allow users to indicate whether they allow tracking. Tracking via WiFi should also be restricted. In June it was announced that the LIBE committee wanted to include protection against backdoors in encryption in the proposal. The currently approved text is not yet available. The position of the committee is important because it determines the negotiating position of the European Parliament. The Council also has yet to announce its position, after which negotiations can take place.