An EU data protection panel has ruled that Apple and Google smartphones need to come under tighter regulation in Europe.

According to Reuters proposals by the panel, which advises the European Commission, could be the first step to creating a law on mobile phone location data. The panel has decided that data on the location of their users should be classed as private and that outfits should get permission from smartphone users before collecting user-location data. It will insist that they should tell users what purpose the data is being used for.

The Committee said that since smartphones and tablet computers are linked to their owner, the movement of the devices provides a very intimate insight into users' their private lives. It said that owners were unaware that they transmit their location to unknown people and this posed a great risk. Both Apple and Google were in hotwater after it was discovered that location data was either being phoned home or stored on the phone or a computer for later harvesting.

It is not clear how far away legislation controlling location data use is away. However judging by the recent outcry, the Commission wants to get some new regulations onto the books quite quickly, before the committee even sat down there were reports that it wanted a crack down.