Privacidade na internet: Até onde deve ir a restrição à exposição de dados pessoais online?

For the first time people living within the European Union will have what's being called "the right to be forgotten". Under changes announced by the European Commission, people will be able to tell a company to remove all the online data they have about them.

Reportagem: Zoe Conway

Just how much control should people have over their online reputations? Should they be able to demand that an unflattering photo be permanently deleted from a website like Facebook? Does everything people write online have to stay there? What about bank details, addresses - can websites hold onto this information forever?

These were the kinds of questions being asked by the European Commission as it investigated the issue of internet privacy. Its guiding principle throughout has been what it called "the right to be forgotten". It has now decided on what this mysterious sounding phrase actually means.

It means that a person does have the right to demand their personal information be permanently deleted if it is data that they themselves have put online. But they don't have the right to have things like unflattering blogs or newspaper profiles written by others deleted.

The EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said the changes will help build trust in online services.

The Commission also says that businesses should have to tell their customers within 24 hours if their online accounts have been hacked into.

Some internet companies have reacted with concern to the proposals, warning that they could become bogged down in trying to meet the new requirements and that could affect their ability to grow.

reputations (reputação, a imagem de alguém, a opinião que as pessoas têm de outra pessoa) someone's image, the opinion people have about them unflattering (menos atraente do que são na verdade) less attractive then they really are

deleted (removido, deletado) removed

investigated (investigado, examinado) examined

privacy (privacidade, a capacidade que uma pessoa tem de manter em segredo dados pessoais) a person's ability to keep some personal information secret

guiding principle(uma ideia ou conceito que leva a pessoa a se comportar de um certo modo) idea or concept which leads people to behave in a certain way

mysterious (misterioso, estranho) strange

blogs (diários mantidos online) online diaries

build trust (constroi credibilidade na segurança de algo) create belief in the security of

hacked into (ter o computador invadido ilegamente a partir de um outro computador) got into illegally from another computer BBC Brasil - Todos os direitos reservados. É proibido todo tipo de reprodução sem autorização por escrito da BBC.