EU urges FB to respect “right to be forgotten online”

The European Union has demanded that Facebook and other social networking sites respect the users’ “right to be forgotten online” to ensure that potential employers do not find personal data to disqualify job supplicants.

In a package of proposals to be unveiled before the summer, the E.U. justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, intends to force Facebook and other social networking sites to make high standards of data privacy the default setting and give control over data back to the user, UK’s Guardian reported on Thursday.

"I want to explicitly clarify that people shall have the right – and not only the possibility – to withdraw their consent to data processing," Reding said in a speech to the European parliament, according to the Guardian. "The burden of proof should be on data controllers – those who process your personal data. They must prove that they need to keep the data, rather than individuals having to prove that collecting their data is not necessary."

Web user privacy watchdogs in different EU countries will be directed to monitor whether Facebook and other social networking sites are giving full and clear control for online users over their private data.

Facebook and other networking sites claim abiding by online users privacy regulation, but some experts and observers say the user privacy guidelines are often too ambiguous or complicated for an ordinary user to understand or to manage.

Reding had already issued a warning to Facebook a year ago for what was seen as a deterioration of user data privacy setting, her spokesman Matthew Newman said, according to the Guardian, adding that the EU is now planning to follow those warning with some action.

Newman said companies "can't think they're exempt just because they have their servers in California or do their data processing in Bangalore. If they're targeting E.U. citizens, they will have to comply with the (E.U.) to deliver a "right to be forgotten".

"Maybe you've been at a party, up until four in the morning and you or someone you know posts photos of you," he said. "Well, it's a harmless bit of fun, but being unable to erase this can threaten your job or access to future employment."

Facebook profiles have been available by default on the internet unless users chose to make them available to their friends only.