Parliament confirms negotiation mandate on e-Privacy rules

Bruxelles. A majority of MEPs confirmed the committee decision to enter into negotiations on the revision of EU privacy rules for electronic communications.The decision was backed by 318 votes to 280, with 20 abstentions. This means that Parliament is ready to start the talks with member states on the new e-Privacy regulation as soon as member states have agreed on their own negotiation position.Parliament’s mandate sets high standards of privacy, confidentiality and security in electronic communications across the EU. A ban on “cookie walls”, which block access to a website if the person does not agree to his or her data being used by the site, is among Parliament’s priorities. Snooping on personal devices via cookies or software updates, or tracking people without their clear approval through public hotspots or WI-FI in shopping centres, should also be prohibited, say MEPs.They also stress that data should only be used for the purpose of which consent has been given by the individual. So-called “meta-data”, which can give information about numbers called, websites visited, geographical location or the time and date a call was made and other sensitive data, should be treated as confidential and never passed on to third parties. Finally, “privacy by default” settings should become standard for all software used for electronic communications.