IP: EUROPEAN PRIVACY RULES WILL CHALLENGE U.S. PRACTICES-- from

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

The European Union Data Protection Directive, which takes effect October
1998, will force U.S. companies doing business in Europe to change the way
they handle routine data collection procedures.  For instance, companies
will need to get consent from their European employees before including
them in corporate e-mail or phone directories, and in extreme cases, it may
become illegal to carry a laptop computer containing a database with
personal information on Europeans to the U.S. or other countries that are
deemed to lack "adequate" guarantees of privacy protection.  The directive
mandates that any personal data obtained by a company may be used only for
the purposes for which it was collected unless consent is granted by the
consumer for broader usage.  If the data is misused in any way, governments
will be able to seek injunctions, fines, and even criminal sanctions, and
the individuals affected may sue for damages.  (CIO Enterprise 15 Feb 98




********************************
See you at INET'98, Geneva 21-24, July 98   <http://www.isoc.org/inet98/>