EU Moves Toward Data Privacy in a Social World.

Companies from around the world are gathering in Berlin in response to the possibility the EU may enact the toughest personal data privacy regulations anywhere. The multi-nationals are concerned since anywhere may easily morph into everywhere. The debate weighs an individual’s rights with respect to the portability and outright withholding of personal data against the desire, if not the need by corporations to leverage that data for commercial purposes. Though relatively early in the process, the measure has grown quite complex, while members of the European Union Parliament remain at odds over the structure. This drama will unfold throughout 2013.