How the cookies (almost) crumbled: Privacy & lobbyism

The protection of privacy is quickly emerging as a central concern for Europeans. Privacy law, in particular, has had difficulty keeping pace with advances in technology. There are companies who plant various programs in the user's computer, such as cookies, to track all his surfing habits and record information which are at times sold to companies that bombard the users with advertisements offering their products. The data that cookies provide can be useful to plan for the functionality and attractiveness of the site. But cookies can also be used for potentially unethical procedures such as linking online behaviour to personally identifiable information and re-selling this information without the consumer's consent. The main threat in this context is the loss of control of the individual of his personal data and the possible reuses of this data. The new uses of Internet require a coherent data protection framework to protect consumers against hidden identifiers such as cookies. However, the enactment of this law has to pass through a political decision process involving legislators, interest groups and other actors. Using the public choice theory as a starting point, the author examines the issues of how and to what extent lobbyism has influenced the EU decision-making bodies in acceding to the lobbyist agenda and the opt-in and opt-out controversy. © 2005 Sylvia Mercado Kierkegaard. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.