"Europe’s e-Privacy Regulation must level the playing field — for the users", 13 Apr 2017

On Tuesday, Access Now testified in a hearing before the LIBE Committee in the European Parliament on the proposal for an e-Privacy Regulation that was presented by the EU Commission on 10 January 2017. This e-Privacy proposal aims to set the rules for the respect for private life and the confidentiality of electronic communications in the EU. Our testimony, published in full below, clarifies that to protect Europeans’ fundamental rights, the rules should not only uphold the level of protection afforded by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but should exceed it.
Further, there is a “playing field” that must be levelled in the e-Privacy context, but it is not the one between telcos and Over-the-Top (OTT) service providers. Users do not have sufficient access to information and control of their personal information. There is very little transparency. Telcos and OTT providers are in the dominant position, and the field must be levelled to address this information asymmetry and put users back in control as promised.