‘EU wants to apply privacy rules for providers to internet communication services’

The EU wants to apply the privacy rules that now apply to telecom providers to internet services such as WhatsApp and Skype, according to a proposal that has been seen by the Reuters news agency. It concerns the rules in the so-called e-Privacy Directive.

With this, the services must offer guarantees regarding the confidentiality of communication and they must request permission to, for example, process user location data, according to Reuters. Providers have been complaining for some time that so-called ‘over the top’ services such as WhatsApp have to comply with less strict rules. They therefore wanted the directive to be withdrawn or to apply to all communications services.

According to the proposal, different rules for providers and for the services create an ‘uneven playing field’, although the services are the same for users in terms of functionality. Another change in the EU’s proposal is to remove the obligation for websites to request consent to place cookies with a ‘cookie wall’. This would apply in the event that the user has already indicated via the browser that he consents to cookies. According to the proposal, these are cookies that are used for ‘behavioral advertising’.

The banners with which websites now request permission only cause irritation for many users, according to the proposal. The new rules also make it possible for providers to use user data to provide ‘additional services’, as long as they have received permission from the user himself. A spokesman for the European Commission told Reuters that the revision of the rules is aimed at aligning them with the General Data Protection Regulation, which contains new European privacy rules and will come into effect in 2018.