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With the new EU Data Protection Directive[1], I think they do, since the DPD covers not only EU based companies, but also any company that provides services for

With the new EU Data Protection Directive[1], I think they do, since the DPD covers not only EU based companies, but also any company that provides services for EU citizens in the EU (so, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. are covered by this..but also e.g. your little weather app). The new DPD is very strict, but there are two parts of the directive that a particularly interesting: - The Data Portability concept: A company covered by the DPD is required to deliver to the user all data the company has on the user, in a standardised format. That means Facebook now has to hand out all your data (information, pics, likes, posts,...) for you to use freely - also in other services. I think this in effect means you own your data. I'm excited to see the effect of this one. - The right to be forgotten: A company is required to delete all data they have on a user, if the user requests. Actually, if the user invokes this right, the company is not allowed make public, <b>store or process</b> any data related to the user. From what I hear in discussions between american colleagues, american companies have no clue whats about to hit them. I know there is a mild panic here in Denmark, and the DPD is the most talked about subject in IT at the moment - and we've always been rather anal with the privacy stuff (e.g. cookie-law). Edit: Oh, I forgot the fun part; this gets a lot of attention due to the sizes of the fines companies get for not adhering to the directive. Fines are up to EUR 20.000.000 or 4% of the company's global annual revenue, whichever is higher. Facebook made USD27.638.000.000 in 2016, so thats a fine of USD1.105.520.000 for not playing nice. [1]: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/reform/index_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/reform/index_en....

bjelkeman-again 9y ago
I foresee a long drawn out nasty international legal fight about this. In the same way the EU authorities have been very weak dealing with the car companies and emissions e.g. dieselgate, the US authorities refuse to see the problem with privacy and data. The governments are going to blame each other for stifling competition (companies from their country) etc. I think the practices of online tracking joined up with offline tracking, as Google is now doing is going to be forbidden unless you consent. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/23/google-now-knows-when-you-are-at-a-cash-register-and-how-much-you-are-spending/?utm_term=.777026bc2468 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/23...
- thr0waway1239 9y ago
  >> going to be forbidden unless you consent This was exactly my point a while back. That the default option should be to get explicit permission for each piece of data you collect AND infer, even if the inference is being done in situ as the code executes (otherwise it will become another out clause). Of course, the geeks who get all delirious by seeing a mountain of data to analyze would not want that kind of friction in the process. I wonder what would happen if someone would spend the time to completely dissect and reverse engineer exactly how lookalike profiles are being generated. My guess is that it will expose data collection practices which will confirm our worst fears.
- bigbugbag 9y ago
  The safe harbor agreement allowing EU citizens' data to be sent to the US was invalidated by the European Court of Justice and hastily replaced by the EU-US privacy shield which is effective since february 2017 and is already under attack and possibly on the way out while trump took a strong stance to not give any privacy to non-US citizens. Then there is the secret negotiation of TAFTA where the US wants to siphon data without providing privacy and Germany refuses to let TAFTA go on until there are adequate privacy measures. So yeah, this battle has been an ongoing one for years now.
  - bjelkeman-again 9y ago
    Indeed. I think it will get worse though.

bjelkeman-again 9y ago

I foresee a long drawn out nasty international legal fight about this. In the same way the EU authorities have been very weak dealing with the car companies and emissions e.g. dieselgate, the US authorities refuse to see the problem with privacy and data. The governments are going to blame each other for stifling competition (companies from their country) etc. I think the practices of online tracking joined up with offline tracking, as Google is now doing is going to be forbidden unless you consent. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/23/google-now-knows-when-you-are-at-a-cash-register-and-how-much-you-are-spending/?utm_term=.777026bc2468 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/23...

thr0waway1239 9y ago
>> going to be forbidden unless you consent This was exactly my point a while back. That the default option should be to get explicit permission for each piece of data you collect AND infer, even if the inference is being done in situ as the code executes (otherwise it will become another out clause). Of course, the geeks who get all delirious by seeing a mountain of data to analyze would not want that kind of friction in the process. I wonder what would happen if someone would spend the time to completely dissect and reverse engineer exactly how lookalike profiles are being generated. My guess is that it will expose data collection practices which will confirm our worst fears.
bigbugbag 9y ago
The safe harbor agreement allowing EU citizens' data to be sent to the US was invalidated by the European Court of Justice and hastily replaced by the EU-US privacy shield which is effective since february 2017 and is already under attack and possibly on the way out while trump took a strong stance to not give any privacy to non-US citizens. Then there is the secret negotiation of TAFTA where the US wants to siphon data without providing privacy and Germany refuses to let TAFTA go on until there are adequate privacy measures. So yeah, this battle has been an ongoing one for years now.
- bjelkeman-again 9y ago
  Indeed. I think it will get worse though.