[…] The recent online surveillance scandal involving US intelligence agencies has renewed calls for an urgent reform of European legislation on personal data, which has already been under discussion for years. The proposed reform, though, has consumer associations pitted against the lobbies of the Internet giants. […]
Pressure from the industry, which has been so intense that 18 American NGOs have formally requested that the United States stop meddling in European legislation, is, of course, motivated by money. “The Internet giants fear users having more control will cut down on the volumes of data they process”, says French advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. And their arguments have been heard: judging the project too punitive on small and medium-sized businesses (and too fuzzy and too sensitive, moreover), MEPs are rejecting the text, pushing the continuation of the discussion back to 2014. In the meantime, the giants of the Web will have the time to collect a pretty little packet of personal data.
http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/3916361-does-facebook-have-privacy-phobia