I read an interesting article in today’s New York Times about a new online privacy law being contemplated in Europe. The opening paragraph lays it out succinctly:
“Europe is considering a sweeping new law that would force Internet companies like Amazon.com and Facebook to obtain explicit consent from consumers about the use of their personal data, delete that data forever at the consumer’s request and face fines for failing to comply.”
The implications of this are potentially huge and could fundamentally alter the landscape of social networking on the web of this proposal becomes law. It’s pretty clear from the article that the likes of Facebook and Google will fight this thing with every weapon they have at their disposal, perhaps even more desperately than they fought SOPA and PIPA. This cuts to the core of what these companies are about and could indeed be an existential threat. The good news is that Europe tends to move at a glacial pace in the best of times so there should be ample opportunities to derail this. Get set for another web battle royal!
