Viviane Reding, the vice president of the European Commission and the justice commissioner of the European Union, was asked to comment on trans-Atlantic data protection issues for the Slipstream column by Natasha Singer in the Sunday Business section. […]
« I believe that not everything can be left to the good will of industry. The interests of industry and consumers may be quite different. Online giants collect personal information about us for their business purposes while we are becoming more and more concerned about the use of this data. The issue of confidence and trust in online services is not only a concern in Europe: a new U.S. survey has just shown that nearly half (45 percent) of U.S. citizens feel that they have little or no control over the personal information companies gather while they are browsing the Web or using online services such as photo sharing, travel or gaming. Twenty-one percent of citizens have even stopped using these online services because of data protection concerns. I believe that policy makers need to provide a solution. It is important both for consumers and businesses. » […]