A European data protection panel ruled this week that information on the location of users should be classed as private, reports the Financial Times. It means that companies such as Apple and Google are facing tighter regulation the Europe.

The panel that advises the European Commission made its proposals that could be written into Europe's revised Data Protection Directive this year, the FT said. These proposals are a first step to formulating a law on mobile phone location data.

The panel said companies should get permission from smartphone users before collecting user-location data and should specify what purpose the data are being used for.

"Since smartphones and tablet computers are inextricably linked to their owner, the movement patterns of the devices provide a very intimate insight into the private life of the owners," the FT quoted the panel as saying.

"One of the great risks is that the owners are unaware they transmit their location, and to whom."