[Nytimes] European Privacy Proposal Lays Bare Differences With U.S.

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[…] Several proposed laws working their way through the European Parliament could give 500 million consumers the ability to block or limit many forms of online Web tracking and targeted advertising. All the major American tech companies have directed their lobbyists in Brussels, where the Parliament is based, to press to weaken or remove these proposals from the European provisions. […]

Faced with the United States industry opposition, some supporters of the proposals are worried about the prospects of producing meaningful changes.

“The outcome is very unclear at this point,” said Jérémie Zimmermann, a spokesman for a French digital rights group, La Quadrature du Net. “The U.S. lobbying on this has been very effective so far. It is impossible to tell what will happen.”