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To: Cheeky Kid who wrote (3106)	10/29/1998 10:47:00 AM
From: Cheeky Kid	Respond to of 32873

Europe Takes the High Road on Privacy cgi.pathfinder.com By LEV GROSSMAN A crack appeared in the shiny new information economy earlier today, Brussels time, when the European Union passed a law prohibiting its member countries from buying and selling personal information about individuals. That's right, that charming American habit of harvesting and selling e-mail addresses, subscriber lists, interest profiles and other forms of personal data is now officially verboten across the pond. What's more, it's no longer legal for companies within the European Union to share any kind of personal information with companies that don't adhere to its stringent new privacy standards. The new law is actually a "directive," a decision made by a majority of the EU's member nations, and it'll take a while for it to be implemented as law within those nations, but when it is, it will almost certainly disrupt e-commerce between America and Europe. It's currently all-but-standard practice for American-based web sites to collect information from casual surfers, often without their even being aware of it. American companies will have to prove to their European business partners that they are using that information responsibly, or face the consequences. The law is definitely a win for privacy advocates who feel that American legislators have tended to protect the rights of companies to do business, especially direct marketing companies, over the right to privacy of individuals. It will force American companies to adopt higher standards if they want to continue doing business with European companies; multinational finance companies such as Citibank and American Express have already had to prove themselves to European privacy authorities, and no doubt others will follow suit. Still, Americans aren't all bad. Washington State's new anti-spam law, about which few were optimistic, is currently yielding its very first prosecution.