Rights of access, rectification and erasure all exist under our current rules, the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive.

FORBES: The EU's 'Right To Be Forgotten': What Data Protections Are We Missing in the US?

Sooner or later, the policies motivating the EU Data Protection Directive will prove to be counter-productive and regressive.

FORBES: More Bad Ideas from the E.U.

The European Union's data protection directive, the most sweeping recent attempt, gives individuals unprecedented control over information about themselves.

ECONOMIST: The end of privacy

The investigations were overseen by the Article 29 Working Party, a group of representatives from each member state tasked with promoting the application of the EU's Data Protection Directive.

BBC: Google privacy policy rethink demanded by EU

In Europe, where the flagship Data Protection Directive came into effect in 1995, before firms such as Google and Facebook were even founded, the European Commission is conducting a review of its privacy policies.

ECONOMIST: Legal confusion on internet privacy