The EU commission proposed to overhaul the 2009 E-privacy Directive to cover the online services and give users more control over the confidentiality of their communications.

The proposal encompasses the privacy opt-in rules for communication services like voice calls, VOIP, SMS, online instant messaging, and other internet based communications. User’s “effective consent” will be required for anything from so-called metadata to the content of communications.

Effectively, the new rules mean that practices like email scanning for personalised ad targeting will be banned by default. However, the use of cookies will remain legal in EU.

It is worth mentioning the new rules will also allow telecom operators to commercialise data that was previously off limits to them.