The European Commission is investigating whether Microsoft's .net
Passport breaches European privacy laws.
The commission, the executive body of the European Union, launched
its probe in response to a complaint against .net Passport by Eric
Meijer, a Dutch member of the European Parliament.
Meijer said that by failing to register with .net Passport, users
are being excluded from many Web site services. He was also unhappy
that unsubscribing from .net Passport is impossible.
"The commission is ... looking into this as a matter of priority,
in concert with national data protection agencies, as regards the
system's compatibility with EU data-protection law," European
commissioner for the internal market Frits Bolkestein wrote in a
letter to Meijer earlier this month.
Microsoft signed up to the EU/US safe harbour agreement in 2000.
The agreement allows signatory companies from the US immunity from
some of the tougher privacy laws found in Europe. However, in
return the companies have to agree to abide by EU laws.
The probe into .net Passport is unconnected to the antitrust
investigation being conducted by the European Commission. The
European regulator is investigating the Microsoft for allegedly
abusing its dominance of PC operating systems to squeeze out rivals
in the market for server software. It also investigating whether by
bundling Media Player into Windows, Microsoft is putting
competitors at an unfair disadvantage.
The antitrust case is set to conclude later this year or in the
first half of next year.