Title: Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés

Source/Sponsoring Agency: France. Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés

URL: http://www.cnil.fr/

Date Checked:       Status: Active

Date Annotated: 9/11/00

Topics: Civil Rights; Computer Law

Other keywords: Data Protection; Privacy; France

Contents: Headquartered in Paris, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) was established by French law in 1978. The Commission characterizes itself as an "independent administrative authority" and is responsible for protecting the rights and freedoms of persons with respect to the processing of personal data and in accordance with the right of individuals to freely obtain any information which is disseminated for public use. The CNIL website documents (in French) the Commission's activities and procedures, which include making recommendations to the government regarding legislative or regulatory measures concerning privacy and freedom of information. The texts of the Commission's recommendations can be read on the site in the section called "Textes," as well as texts of French legislation related to privacy. The scope of the site extends beyond France to include links to the websites of other privacy commissions around the world, and a table listing data protection legislation in other countries. An interesting feature of the CNIL site is called "Your traces ... Find out how you are traced on the Internet." This feature is available in French, English and Spanish and aims to make Internet users aware of their "digital footprints," by demonstrating and analysing how personal information about them can be gleaned over the Internet. The CNIL site includes a Boolean search engine.

Author of Annotation: J. Pajerek