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Protecting the Public

Summit to Give 'Control' of Private Data Back to Consumers

Political and business leaders are meeting in Berlin on Thursday to discuss ways to restrict the flagrant misuse of personal information. It will be a struggle for control over data most people consider private.

In the wake of several data-protection scandals in Germany, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has invited business leaders and government ministers to an emergency summit in Berlin to discuss how to protect citizens from illegal trade in private information.

Peter Schaar, Germany's Federal Commissioner for Data Protection, set the tone for Thursday's meeting by saying beforehand to the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, "The most important thing I'm asking for is that the people who are affected should have control over their personal information. This means that the information can only be shared for marketing purposes if the customer has explicitly given permission."

Right now private details can be used in Germany as long as a customer has not explicitly said no -- usually in writing. "And the fewest number of people do that," said Schaar.

Along with Gerd Billen, Chairman of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations, Schaar has also argued for a law insisting that companies identify the source of a customer's contact information. A piece of junk mail, in other words, would have to indicate where the company picked up the address -- so the customer would know how to opt out.

"Consumers and citizens need to regain control over their information as soon as possible," said Billen.

Some politicians who will also attend the summit, like German Economics Minister Michael Glos, have called for flat-out bans on the business use of private information. But business representatives were in Berlin on Thursday to argue against over-broad legislation.

August-Wilhelm Scheer, president of the information-technology umbrella group BITKOM, said in an interview with Handelsblatt before the summit that an absolute ban "would overshoot the legitimate goal of data protection … And a German ban would be useless if companies can still sell the data in other countries."

Germany's recent scandals involved not just contact information but also financial details. Call centers were caught using bank account numbers to skim monthly payments from unsuspecting or unwilling recipients of cold marketing calls in Germany. One government minister said up to 20 million citizens' banking details were in illegal circulation, and basic government-collected data on 80 million citizens -- like phone numbers and street addresses -- were available on the Internet, open to misuse by traders in black-market phone lists.

German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries demanded harsh measures after these scandals broke, including confiscation of any profits earned with black-market data. She argued the government had to go beyond just fining companies. "Firms (that misuse private information) must then pay back every cent they earned from this illegal trade," she said in August.

Zypries will attend the summit in Berlin, but she didn't want to say any more about her recommendations before it started, according to a Berlin paper, Der Tagesspiegel.

msm -- with wire reports