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The European Union is considering a law guaranteeing “the right to be forgotten” on the Internet. This would be a major breakthrough in privacy. The European Commission will propose the law on Wednesday as it attempts to revamp the Data Protection Directive (1995).

The law will allow users the right to request that personal data is deleted from Internet servers. Firms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter will have to comply unless there are “legitimate” grounds to retain the information.

Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding revealed the plans for the law at a conference in Munich. Matthew Newman, a spokesman for the commissioner, highlighted that the new laws were intended to help protect young adults manage their own private data online.

He clarified that young people are “not always as aware as they could be about the consequence of putting photos and other information on social network websites”. He also stated that young people are not always fully conscious of the various privacy settings available on social networking sites, and that this could prove harmful.

The commissioner did say that there were some circumstances that will be exempt from these new rules. “The archives of a newspaper are a good example”, she said, “It is clear that the right to be forgotten cannot amount to a right of the total erasure of history”.

Other stipulations include that firms will be obligated to inform users of any security breaches “within 24 hours” of the data being lost. Companies will also have to explicitly seek permission to use any user data, on top of informing users when their data is being collected. Firms who break the rules could be fined as much as 1% of their global income.

If the new law passes, it will be the first pan-EU data privacy rule. It will also encompass overseas companies that are active in the EU, even if they function on non-EU servers.

The industry has had mixed reactions to the announcement. Ron Zink, Microsoft Europe’s chief operating officer, told the Financial
Times that the proposals could be seen as “too prescriptive”. Facebook has stated that it wants more information about the data the EU is considering, but adds that “good regulation should encourage job creation and economic growth rather than hindering it”. Google and Yahoo have said that they are unable to comment at this time.

If approved, the bill will still take a few years to come into effect. The supporters and detractors of the bill still have a long battle ahead.