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Posted by Editor on 29th January 2012 at 12:19 PM
Data protection: EU citizens' rights must be "Updated And Upgraded"
EU rules on data protection must be "updated for new technological advances and upgraded", said European Socialists and Democrats today in Brussels, as the European Commission unveiled new draft legislation to strengthen citizens' data privacy rights.

Shotlist:
1. VIDEO CLIP OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ABOUT PERSONNAL DATA PROTECTION ON THE INTERNET
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (25 JANUARY, 2012) (SOCIALISTS AND DEMOCRATS, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - ACCESS ALL)
1. CUTTAWAY: CLAUDE MORAES (S&D MEP) WALKING IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
2. CLAUDE MORAES (S&D MEP) SAYING (ENGLISH):

"Well these directives are hugely important, for the S&D Group we were waiting for them for a long time. There are important because there is a sense in which, when we represent citizens, we realize the number of amounts of personal data which all of our citizens are now giving to a third party, has become immense. The law on data protection, protecting that information, has not kept pace with the shear level of data that is going out personally. So for that reasons there needs to be across the European Union a settlement button data, on the private et public sector, it is a way of protecting people. Without it on anyway, harming the market place and information, we have to do in such a way that it doesn't damage commerce, because we all depend on that, and also we have to look at very sensitive issues, such as the extraterritorial use of data, so it will be a very controversial report. For example we can look at issue of whether information coming from the USA, something we can't control, how we protect data without harming commercial interests, and how we deal with the day to day issues: data giving to banking services, the data basis of public institutions, sensitive data how can we protect them at the internet age."

3. CUTTAWAY: CLAUDE MORAES (S&D MEP) WALKING IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT WITH HIS ASSISTANT

4. CLAUDE MORAES (S&D MEP) SAYING (ENGLISH):

"I think European Union is now, with this directive, entirely from my group point of view, going to new territories. For example, there is this phrase "the EU wants the right to be forgotten on the internet". This is a very important and new idea, the idea is that you can go in the internet, visit websites, give personal information, take part on commerce on the internet, but you can also erase your footprint. It is very controversial. We want to try as a group, to see how far we can go in the way we can erase our footprint."

5. CUTTAWAY: CLAUDE MORAES (S&D MEP) WALKING IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT WITH HIS ASSISTANT
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (SEPTEMBER 2011) (EBS- ACCESS ALL)
1. CUTTAWAY: WOMAN IN FRONT OF HER COMPUTER
2. CUTTAWAY: WOMAN MAKING A PAYMENT ON INTERNET
3. CUTTAWAY: WOMAN LOOKING AT FACEBOOK WEBSITE
4. CUTTAWAY: COMPUTER SCREEN ON FACEBOOK "HOW YOU SHARE"

Story:

EU rules on data protection must be "updated for new technological advances and upgraded", said European Socialists and Democrats today in Brussels, as the European Commission unveiled new draft legislation to strengthen citizens' data privacy rights.

Claude Moraes, S&D spokesperson for civil liberties, justice and home affairs, stressed how important the issue was: "These directives are hugely important, for the S&D Group we were waiting for them for a long time. There are important because there is a sense, when we represent citizens, we realize the number amount of personal data which all of the citizens are now giving to a third party, has become immense."
"For that reasons there needs to be across the European Union a settlement button data, on the private and public sector, it is a way of protecting people. Without it on anyway, harming the market place and information, we have to do in such a way that it doesn't damage commerce, because we all depend on that, and also we have to look at very sensitive issues, such as the extraterritorial use of data, so it will be a very controversial report" He added.

Mr. Moraes sees the right to be forgotten as one of the main points of the directive: "For example, there is this phrase "the EU wants the right to be forgotten on the internet". This is a very important and new idea, the idea is that you can go in the internet, visit websites, give personal information, take part on commerce on the internet, but you can also erase your footprint.

Background information

Hanane is a Belgian student who has moved to the UK to study Business Administration in one of the most prestigious British universities. On registration day, Hanane is asked to give her name, address, phone number, bank account and credit card number to pay the fees. As the university has introduced anti-discrimination monitoring, the registration form also asks about her sexual orientation, religion and ethical group.

Spanish couple Maria Rosario and Raul Marquez have recently decided to buy a new apartment near Madrid. To give them a loan, their bank asks them to provide information about their salaries, monthly expenses and outstanding debts. The bank also requires them to provide a copy of their wedding certificate and to take out life insurance, for which they have to give full details on their health, previous diseases, drinking and smoking habits.

Jarkko is a young Finnish consultant. For his work he always needs to be updated and therefore over the years he has subscribed to several leading magazines and newsletters for professionals. Sometimes, he receives advertising from magazines he had unsubscribed to in the past or has never signed up to. As he is often required to travel abroad, Jarkko has a frequent flyer membership card and has become an expert at hotel registration forms. In his spare time, Jarkko likes to keep in touch with his friends on Facebook and purchase books on Amazon. Whenever he finds a good deal on the internet he buys a flight using his credit card details, does the check-in online and takes off.

Every second, millions of EU citizens exchange data or give their personal records to others: every phone call, e-mail exchange, SMS sent and website visited is recorded.

Consumers are usually asked to provide their personal data to get access to services such as newspaper subscriptions, education, banking and travelling. In special cases, this data includes information about individual health, ethnic group, sexual orientation or political preferences.

Currently, each European country has introduced high standards of data protection set by an EU directive adopted in 1995. Since then, however, implementation has been different at a national level. Moreover, new technologies have been introduced and today's information exchanges have radically increased in volume.
Therefore, the EU has decided to replace the 1995 directive with a regulation that will enter directly into force and ensure the same rules apply in all 27 EU countries.

The European Parliament has co-decision powers on this issue.

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