Europe's governing bodies, on the other hand, believe the only guarantee for privacy in the electronic sector is legislation. The discussion came on the heels of a study released last week placing Germany behind other Western European countries in ecommerce enterprises. At the symposium, the arguments for and against government intervention fell into predictable camps. And business leaders derided rules that new technologies and business plans make obsolete before the ink dries. Alexander Dix, commissioner for data protection in the state of Brandenburg, began on a defensive note.
Deregulation is en vogue.
Regulations are seen as more bureaucracy, more red tape, and a deterrent to the free flow of the data highways. What's more, Internet companies in the United States are frustrating the mandate of the EU Directive on Data Protection, implemented last October to give Europeans more control over their data. It requires a consumer's consent before his data can be processed and prohibits using it for any other reason than originally stated. But direct marketers in the United States who use email re-purpose this data without fear of penalty. Spamming is unregulated in the United States.