MPs have joined the European Commission in backing the use of privacy enhancing technologies (Pets) to protect personal data, despite UK government fears it could limit the activities of security and law-enforcement agencies.

The European Union (EU) wants to encourage the development of standards for the processing of personal data using Pets. Such a move could lead to international standardisation of technical rules on security measures for data protection, according to a report from the Commons European Scrutiny Committee.

The committee agrees with the government ‘that the use of privacy-enhancing technology can be useful to protect the privacy of individuals and is to be encouraged, subject to any overriding public interest, such as the detection or prevention of serious crime.’

But former justice minister Baroness Ashton told the committee the government was conscious of the need to ensure that use of Pets does not prevent law-enforcement agencies or other relevant authorities performing their lawful duties.

She pointed to the example of technology being used to prevent the police from discovering the identity of a person carrying out illegal activities by means of the internet, and called for the use of Pets to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

But the committee's report says the Commission considers that Pets should be developed and used more widely, regarding them as complementary to the existing legal framework.

Limitations on Pets should be restricted to dealing with cybercrime, preventing terrorism or the spread of contagious disease, says the report.

The European Commission is calling on data controllers to incorporate Pets more widely, and on national authorities and the private sector to invest in their development. The Commission also plans to investigate the feasibility of an EU-wide system of ‘privacy seals’ as a means or certifying that a given product ensures the protection of data by incorporating Pets.

Pets are technologies that can help web users protect their personal data and privacy. Examples include automatic anonymisation of data after a period of time, encryption tools, and tools to block the use of cookies.