European Privacy Debate on Display in Paris

European Union policy makers are demanding greater controls over how companies like Google and Facebook use personal information. At the same time, others would like to use those same laws to help European companies compete against their American rivals as a way to jump-start a sluggish economy.

That debate over how best to leverage the regulations was on show during a meeting as local privacy regulators gathered to discuss the growing public outcry over how governments and tech giants gather and use people’s data. Europe is now completing a new round of privacy rules, expected to be made final in 2015, that will give greater power to individuals over who has access to their data and how it is used. European policy makers are also considering fines of up to 5 percent of a company’s annual revenue, or $125 million, whichever is greater, when the strict privacy rules are breached.