WRITTEN QUESTION E-0746/08
by Saïd El Khadraoui (PSE)
to the Commission

Subject: Microsoft patent

The IT colossus Microsoft has applied for a patent in the USA on a technology
which records the pulse, body temperature, facial expressions and other
physiological features of employees. According to Microsoft, the aim is to
help employers to monitor whether their employees are happy. If the computer
system which Microsoft is seeking to patent becomes a commercial application,
employees of businesses which have installed it will have absolutely no
privacy in relation to their bosses. Sensors in the computer will for example
measure their pulse, respiration, blood pressure and body temperature, while
a webcam will register their facial expressions. The technology is designed
to operate on all types of computer, including laptops, pocket computers and
the higher-grade mobile telephones.

Has Microsoft also applied for a similar patent in the European Union?

Might the commercial use of this new technology violate European law on
privacy and fundamental rights, as it currently stands?


E-0746/08EN
Answer given by Mr Barrot
on behalf of the Commission
(3.4.2008)

Patent offices in Europe do not routinely inform the Commission of the patent
applications they have received. Applications are usually published 18 months
after the date of filing, or if priority is claimed from an earlier
application, the date of priority. The contents of a patent application are
only made available to the public after this date.

Commercial use of a technology monitoring physiological features of employees
might give rise to violation of fundamental rights, as recognised by the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. More precisely, such use
might violate the right to protection of personal data by allowing the
processing of health data, which is prohibited by Article 8, paragraph 1 of
the Data Protection Directive[1], as long as it is not justified by an
exception listed in the said Article. When, according to Article 8,
paragraph, 2 letter b), the processing of health data can be authorised "as
necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and specific
rights of the controller in the field of employment law", national law has to
provide adequate safeguards.





[1] Directive 95/46/EC of Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995
on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal
data and on the free movement of such data, OJ L 281, 23.11.1995.