US media bosses attack EC data protection laws

Chief executives of the world's leading media companies slammed EC regulations at a discussion forum in New York yesterday. Speakers included AOL's Steve Case, Time Warner's Gerald Levin, and Bertelsmann's Thomas Middelhoff, who all spoke out against government regulation of the Internet.

Ironically, the meeting was the first of the Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce forums, which were originally proposed by EC Commissioner, Martin Bangemann.

Bangemann's proposal, issued last summer, asked for the private sector, "to take the lead by coming forward with their own proposals for removing the legal and technical uncertainties which are hampering the take-off of the global online economy".

But, instead of a far-reaching discussion, chief executives at yesterday's meeting took turns to pummel the EC's new laws on data protection, according to US reports. They are expected to follow this up with policy statements on the subject.

UK deputy data protection registrar, Francis Aldhouse, criticised their reaction. "The new data protection directive defines a fundamental right to privacy and prevents businesses from exploiting the privacy of individuals. But there has been control on this since 1984 in one way or another, so this is not an astonishing novelty."

Aldhouse advised delegates at the meeting to consider the US declaration at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) summit in Ottowa last October, where ministers reaffirmed their commitment to enforcing privacy online.