The European Commission has called for tougher protection of Internet users' privacy, urging a review of rules protecting personal information in the light of technological progress.
EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding said it was imperative that the new European Commission line-up, due at the end of the year, tackle the rules, which date back to 1995.
'Such a reform is long overdue, in view of the rapid technological development,' she said in a video message on her website.
Ms Reding singled out social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace, internet sites which profile users to target them with ads and so-called RFID radio-emitting smart chips.
On social networking sites, she said that 'at least' minors' profiles should be private by default and unavailable to Internet search engines.
She said that the commission was carefully watching how sites target users with ads in order to ensure they respect European rules, which she said were 'crystal clear: a person's information can only be used with their prior consent'.
On RFID chips, she said: 'No European should carry a chip in one of their possessions without being informed precisely what they are used for, with the choice to remove or switch it off at any time.'
Such chips are being developed for things like bus passes, but there are fears that they could be embedded in a variety of goods to track consumers' behaviour without them knowing.
