The use of input in the online world is being governed by the rules of the “Wild West,” the European Commission will argue that week, in the clearest warning yet to Web companies to curb how they use the info they gather on users.

With concern growing by the amount of documents gathered by the biggest players on the Net, the comments will challenge the industry to agree on new principles for its use — or face a clampdown.

Meglena Kuneva, the European consumer affairs commissioner, will argue that basic consumer rights are being violated by companies that profile and target consumers, according to a draft of a speech seen by the universal Herald Tribune.

“From the point of view of commercial communications,” the draft speech reads, “the World Wide Web is turning out to be the world ‘Wild West.’”

Kuneva is to deliver the speech to a meeting of around 200 industry and consumer representatives on Wednesday.

Her comments reflect the anxiety of regulators on both sides of the Atlantic about the commercial use of info garnered through online tracking made possible via “cookies” — small files dropped into users’ computers by the Web sites they visit.

These cookies help companies take note of users’ habits and can be sold to advertisers to help them target their marketing efforts. But their use raises serious questions about who knows which sites we visit and what they do with that info.

In the United States, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, warned recently that, whether the industry does not show it can protect users’ privacy, it will invite legislation from Congress and a more regulatory approach from the F.T.C.

In Europe, European Union and national laws governing the use of personal data on the World Wide Web, as in other parts of the world, are seen as antiquated…

[Source] dhiram