The EU commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding

The EU commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, has said that member states should take action against social networking sites that infringe on citizens’ right to control the use of their personal information.

‘Privacy must in my view be a high priority for social networking providers and their users. I firmly believe that at least the profiles of minors must be private by default and unavailable to internet search engines,’ said Commissioner Reding. ‘The European Commission has already called on social networking sites to deal with minors’ profiles carefully, by means of self-regulation. I am ready to follow this up with new rules if I have to.’

The commissioner’s comments come as the EC announced several areas under examination for misusing personal information and in which the EC is ready to act to maintain privacy rights.

‘Europeans must have the right to control how their personal information is used,’ said Commissioner Reding.

She added: ‘European privacy rules are crystal clear: a person’s information can only be used with their prior consent. We cannot give up this basic principle, and have all our exchanges monitored, surveyed and stored in exchange for a promise of “more relevant” advertising! I will not shy away from taking action where an EU country falls short of this duty.’

Under the EU Data Protection Directive on privacy and electronic communications, EU member states are required to safeguard confidentiality of communications by prohibiting unlawful interception and surveillance unless the users concerned have given their consent.

The Directive states that a person must freely give specific consent and be informed before their personal information is processed.