Lisbon Treaty improves data protection

An EU data protection group wants search engines to be obliged to delete user information after a maximum of six months. US company Microsoft has now become the first to say it will delete the user's Internet Protocol address as soon as a search query is made. In the BasicThinking Blog André Vatter analyses the reasons for this sudden change in tone: "For one thing the subject of data protection is booming ... and marketing strategists are discovering that development in this area can be a profitable way for companies to profile themselves. The EU itself provides the second reason. The Article 29 Working Group, the body that drew up the new rules, can only make recommendations. It is the sole prerogative of the data protection authorities in the individual countries to impose sanctions (including prison sentences). This has never happened in the past, which is why Google and Yahoo! are taking their time adjusting to the reforms. But since the Treaty of Lisbon came into effect the EU Commission for the first time has the power to impose punishment independently. Microsoft's precipitated obedience is aimed at taking the wind out of these ambitions' sails."

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