Internet privacy
Summary
27 January 2012
For the first time people living within the European Union will have what's being called "the right to be forgotten". Under changes announced by the European Commission, people will be able to tell a company to remove all the online data they have about them.
Reporter
Zoe Conway
Zoe Conway
What information should stay on websites?
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Just how much control should people have over their onlinereputations? Should they be able to demand that an unflatteringphoto be permanently deleted from a website like Facebook? Does everything people write online have to stay there? What about bank details, addresses - can websites hold onto this information forever?
These were the kinds of questions being asked by the European Commission as it investigated the issue of internet privacy. Itsguiding principle throughout has been what it called "the right to be forgotten". It has now decided on what this mysterioussounding phrase actually means.
It means that a person does have the right to demand their personal information be permanently deleted if it is data that they themselves have put online. But they don't have the right to have things like unflattering blogs or newspaper profiles written by others deleted.
The EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said the changes will help build trust in online services.
The Commission also says that businesses should have to tell their customers within 24 hours if their online accounts have beenhacked into.
These were the kinds of questions being asked by the European Commission as it investigated the issue of internet privacy. Itsguiding principle throughout has been what it called "the right to be forgotten". It has now decided on what this mysterioussounding phrase actually means.
It means that a person does have the right to demand their personal information be permanently deleted if it is data that they themselves have put online. But they don't have the right to have things like unflattering blogs or newspaper profiles written by others deleted.
The EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said the changes will help build trust in online services.
The Commission also says that businesses should have to tell their customers within 24 hours if their online accounts have beenhacked into.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2012/01/120127_witn_internet.shtml
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