CUSTOMER CONFIDENTIALITY
Web companies face tougher EU rules
Tough new rules will force web players to guarantee the confidentiality of their customers’ conversations and ask for their consent before tracking them
Brussels — Online messaging and e-mail services such as WhatsApp, iMessage and Gmail will face tough new rules on how they can track users under a proposal presented by the EU executive on Tuesday. The web players will have to guarantee the confidentiality of their customers’ conversations and ask for their consent before tracking them online to serve them personalised ads. The proposal by the European Commission extends some rules that now apply only to telecoms operators to web firms offering calls and messages using the internet, known as "Over-The-Top" services. It seeks to close a perceived regulatory gap between the telecoms industry and mainly US internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft. Tuesday’s proposal would allow telecom companies to use customer metadata — such as the duration and location of calls — to provide additional services and make more money, something they are barred from doing under the current rules. However, the telecoms industry said the prop...
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