More than a year ago, the European Union’s top justice official proposed a tough set of measures for protecting the privacy of personal data online.But because of intense lobbying by Silicon Valley companies and other powerful groups in Brussels, several proposals have been softened, no agreement is in sight and governments are openly sparring with one another over how far to go in protecting privacy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/technology/europe-still-wrangling-over-online-privacy-rules.html