Is the EU to Blame For Further Prompting Privacy Issues?
The European Commission to looking to tighten its regulatory grip on US-based tech companies which are slowly replacing traditional telcos in the services they provide.
According to documents seen by the Financial Times (FT), the EUwill further tighten its grip on over-the-top services.
Under the new regime, companies like Facebook owned Whatsapp and Skype owner Microsoft will be forced to comply with requests for data from law enforcement agencies.
The documents seen by the FT reveal that the European Commission, the EU's executive body, is to issue an initial announcement in September before setting out the provisions for a review of the EU's “ePrivacy” law later this year.
Jacob Ginsberg, senior director at encryption company Echoworx told SCMagazineUK.com: “We have seen before the pressures that requests from security agencies and governments put on industry. The FBI set a dangerous precedent earlier this year when it asked Apple to build backdoors into its own technology. The EU must make sure that these new security and confidentiality provisions do not demand the same. Asking companies like WhatsApp to undermine the security that it has put in place to protect its customers will put the business on very shaky ground - and lead to distrust. To avoid an industry backlash similar to that of the IP Bill, the EU must reassure companies that the requests for customer information do not weaken the data protection rights of users.”
