18/03/2011 Culture, Science, Education and Media
Strasbourg, 18.03.2011 - There are many dark sides to the fate of personal data on the Internet, with questions arising about the right to respect for privacy and the right to data protection. This was the conclusion of participants in a hearing, held in Paris today by PACE's Culture Committee, on the subject of privacy and the management of private information on the Internet and other on-line media.
"Data gathered without an individual’s knowledge, data reused for unacknowledged purposes, data kept for months or even years, data passed on to third parties, confidential data circulated. Individuals using the Internet and the whole range of on-line services that now exist have to a large extent lost control of their personal information", according to rapporteur Andreja Rihter (Slovenia, SOC). She added that "informational self-determination, that is, individuals’ rights to be aware of information, whether private, public or professional, stored about them, control how it is communicated and prevent its abuse" is of prime importance.
Ms Rihter's report should result in the development of practical proposals with a view to both the introduction of self-regulation by the private sector and the updating of existing legislation, particularly through modernisation of Council of Europe Convention No. 108, which contains the fundamental principles of data protection. Participants inter alia proposed the inclusion of new principles, such as minimisation of data collection, increased liability, better security and stronger rights for individuals, such as the right to object, so that objections may be made to automated decisions and a right to data deletion exist. This report should be adopted by the Culture Committee in June and may be debated by the Assembly at its October session.