The European institutions' concern about the protection of user privacy is leaving us with more and more new regulations linked to it. Some of them, such as the GDPR, have caused quite a storm in the European business landscape, forcing companies to adapt quickly in the face of the threat of huge financial penalties. But the GDPR is not the only one. There is another regulation that is generating even more controversy in the old continent: the Eprivacy Directive. We tell you all about it.
eprivacy regulations
The eprivacy directive, also known as Eprivacy Regulation, is a future European directive that is still at the approval stage. In fact, the directive has been stuck at this stage for three years. Specifically, since the first failed draft was submitted to the European Commission in January 2017. Subsequent drafts were not very successful: they were also rejected. The last one, submitted on 22 November 2019 to the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States. The eighth draft that did not make it. Why?
The reasons are complex. But we could sum it up in the following sentence: the Regulation Eprivacy intends to alter the rules of the digital game. In other words: its approval, as it has been presented in these eight drafts, would mean a major change in the relationship between digital services and the privacy of the users who use them. So much so that many of these services could be put at risk, as they rely on personal data.
Examples? Services like Facebook, Netflix or Whatsapp. After all, these services operate on a familiar basis: they collect a massive amount of personal and behavioural data from their users in order to predict their behaviour, as well as to offer personalised products and services. With Eprivacy such a handling of metadata would be impossible. This implies that many of these services would have to completely change their operating model or cease operating on EU territory.
But not only that. The Directive E privacy also aims to alter one of the pillars of today's internet, namely how cookies work. Thus, Eprivacy would establish that users would not be affected in their use of the internet if they reject a website's cookie policy. This would completely change many of the businesses that currently exist on the internet and that feed directly or indirectly on the knowledge of users' browsing behaviour.
In addition, the Eprivacy Regulation aims to establish controls on metadata. As we explained here in another article, the metadata are data about the data that provide us with additional information about who communicated, when it was communicated and where certain digital information was communicated. In that sense, and as we have already seen here, the use of metadata processing software such as MetaClean is indispensable. Whether Eprivacy is approved or not. It is a way to protect confidential information.
Where will the e-privacy directive apply?
Like any other directive issued by the institutions of the European Union, the direct Eprivacy will have effect throughout the territory of the member states. This means that its approval, if it is approved in a similar way to how it has been proposed so far, would be a real earthquake for both EU citizens and hundreds of international companies. Including the giants of online services. Only the future will tell if Eprivacy becomes a reality.
