WRITTEN QUESTION E-3543/01 by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission. Privacy and electronic mail.
Date: 2002-01-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: data processing, data protection, electronic commerce, electronic mail, personal data, protection of privacy, services company

C 205 E/40

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.8.2002

However, it is not the Commission but the Member States which have sole responsibility for education
programmes. It is therefore not among the Commission’s priorities to carry out a survey. Within its remit,
the Commission will continue to take resolute action to develop European citizenship in education and in
other areas.

(2002/C 205 E/043)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3543/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(8 January 2002)

Subject: Privacy and electronic mail

Users of computer services are being offered an increasing number of on-line opportunities. One of the
latest, offered by a company specialising in the registration of domain names, consists in providing a
personalised electronic mailbox for anyone registering a domain with a given name (namely, www.-
forename.surname).

Without wishing to criticise the imagination which goes into devising more and more opportunities for
gifts, I have doubts about the legality of registering a name on the internet, unbeknown to the person
concerned, and with anyone being able to gain access to that person’s mailbox.

Will the Commission therefore state:

1. whether, in its view, such offers constitute an infringement of the right to privacy?

2. whether there are rules which apply to the electronic mail sector?

3.

if not, what it intends to do in order to protect the right to privacy in this specific area?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(23 April 2002)

The new Top Level Domain ‘.name’ provides registration of domain names for personal names of
individuals. The Registry is administered by a company based in the United Kingdom and subject to the
United Kingdom Data Protection Act 1998. The Registry operates the ‘.name’ Top Level Domain under an
agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Domain names can
be registered through accredited registrars (called ‘official providers’ within the ‘.name’ organisation) and
are subject to eligibility rules which can be found at (http://www.nic.name).

These rules provide that ‘any person can register his or her own personal name’, ‘the personal name of a
fictional character provided that the registrant can demonstrate trademark or service mark rights over that
name’, or their personal name with added numeric characters to differentiate them from other personal
names. The name registered must be the legal name of the registrants or a name by which he or she is
commonly known such as a pseudonym. In case of non-compliance with the eligibility requirements a
dispute resolution policy is available.

The registration of a domain name can take place in a format ‘firstname.lastname.name’ or ‘lastname.-
firstname.name’ and a corresponding e-mail address can be available as an additional service. This
additional service consists in automatic forwarding of e-mail sent to the ‘.name’ address to a separate
designated e-mail account operated by another company. This automatic forwarding does not change in
itself the security of the designated account. Given the contractual relationship related to the registration of
a domain name it may indeed be said that there is higher security related to the ‘.name’ address than to
some of the very popular free e-mail accounts.

29.8.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 205 E/41

The registration of domain names as a gift appears to be a service offered by at least one registrar. Given
the information currently available, it could be questioned as to whether such a service is consistent with
the current ‘.name’ Top Level Domain eligibility policy.

On the basis of the Directive 95/46/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the
protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such
data (1) (data protection directive), the individual concerned by the registration of his/her name or his/her
pseudonym, the beneficiary/recipient, has the right to be provided with certain information about the
processing of such personal data relating to him or her, the data must be processed fairly and lawfully and
on a legitimate basis (unambiguous consent, performance of a contract, compliance with a legal obligation,
etc) and he or she has the right of access to and the rectification or erasure of such personal data as well as
the right to object to such processing to the extent that the processing concerned identified him or her and
not any other person.

The answer to question 1 depends therefore on the concrete way in which such service is offered and used.
The provision and use of such service could be considered consistent with the right to privacy and data
protection if it is ensured that the beneficiary/recipient has the control over the processing of his/her
personal data concerning the registration of his/her name as a domain name and that during and after the
registration process the data cannot be abused. It would for example be necessary to ensure that the data
are not used for marketing purposes before the individual had the opportunity to express his/her consent
or opposition to its use as his/her domain name, and for marketing if such use is at stake.

The answer to question 2 also depends on the use made of the e-mail address: If the e-mail address is only
created for use by the beneficiary/recipient of the domain name, which would obviously depend on his/her
consent, no special rules in addition to the provisions of Directive 95/46/EC as explained above apply for
the registration process.

In cases of complaints,
in addition to the procedures foreseen by the Community data protection
Directives, it could be expected that anybody who had a problem with a registration would give serious
consideration to the alternate dispute resolution procedures available related to domain names.

The Commission will keep following developments in this area.

(1) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995.

(2002/C 205 E/044)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3544/01

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Council

(8 January 2002)

Subject: List of Islamic fundamentalists in Somalia

I have received, from internal sources in the Somali autonomous regions of Puntland, a list of names of
people thought to be members of the Al-Ittihad and Al-Islah fundamentalist organisations, which the US
and other Western governments consider as terrorist organisations. It is reasonable to deduce from this list
that there is a connection with the Somali Transitional National Government (TNG).

This document and the freezing of bank accounts of the Al-Baraakat Somali economic and financial
network clearly demonstrate the need to shed light on the situation in Somalia and any links there may be
between the Transitional National Government and the most extreme Islamic groups in Somalia.