Is the age of privacy on Facebook over?

Anon writes:

I feel there is a lack of legal oversight of Facebook. Although it is a good communications tool, there seems to be no policy or law that protects the individual’s privacy. There should be more control on what is written and published on Facebook. If you do not like what is published about you, you can report it. But you never get a reply and nothing is done to protect you.

Can anything be done about this?

Facebook and other social networking sites have revolutionised our social relations and the way in which our personal information is made available and shared on the net. Millions of people around the world use them on a regular basis. I am one of them. I started my Facebook profile just 18 months ago and I am now close to hitting a staggering 5,000 “friends”. I access it regularly and the instant communication it enables with so many people is simply mind-boggling.

Admittedly, however, despite their success, these sites also have a negative side, which should not be underestimated.

Users of social networking sites can freely upload and share information about themselves. There are certain risks in doing this. But users have the final word and, with a bit of prudence, they can decide for themselves what information can be shared about them.

The trouble starts when other people upload and share information about us without our permission.

For instance, my friend can upload a photo of me in which I would not like to be seen for whatever reason. Or they may write statements about me which everyone can read and which I dislike – again without my permission.

These are serious concerns and the reader is right to raise them. But dealing with them is tricky.

We must be careful not to limit freedom of expression, which is the basis of the internet’s success. And we must not introduce mechanisms that control what people want to say.

At the same time, however, we know the internet should not be a free-for-all where anything can be said about anyone without any accountability whatsoever.

Taking these two arguments into consideration, the sensible approach should be to seek to strike a balance between the two.

The use of citizens’ data online has become a subject of intense debate at EU level. In part, this is due to controversies surrounding cases such as Google’s Street View mapping service but also Facebook’s privacy policy.

While the growing number of products and services offer increased benefits for consumers they also rely enormously on the use of the users’ personal data. Thus, the possibilities for misusing or abusing this information should not be underestimated.

The European Commission has taken up this challenge.

At the end of last year, it published a document on A Comprehensive Strategy On Data Protection In The European Union, which takes into account the privacy challenges posed by these new technologies. This document is now being discussed in the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee of which I am a member.

For example, the Commission notes it received several queries from individuals who have not always been able to retrieve personal data from online service providers, such as their pictures, and, as a result, they have therefore been prevented from exercising their right to access, rectify or delete the information held about them. This is frustrating.

The Commission wants to examine ways of strengthening the principle of data minimisation. It is also seeking ways of improving the right to access, rectify, erase or even block data about oneself. It envisages options such as introducing deadlines for responding to individuals’ requests, allowing the exercise of rights by electronic means or by providing that the right of access should be ensured free of charge.

Moreover, the Commission is also seeking to clarify the so-called “right to be forgotten”. This means that individuals should have the right to have their personal information deleted once and for all when they are no longer interested in being part of something, such as a social networking site. Facebook has been singled out here.

The concept of “data portability” is also being considered. This means an individual should have the right to withdraw his or her own data, such as photos or a list of friends, from one application or service and transfer them to another application or service, as far as technically feasible, without being stopped or hindered from doing so by the data controllers.

These are some of the issues at stake. They are, after all, some of the negative side effects of what are otherwise fantastic new technological improvements that have literally changed our lives. So while reaping their full benefits, we must ensure the right to privacy of individuals is duly safeguarded.

www.simonbusuttil.eu

Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.