Reply to post: Re: rapid flow of information between the EU and the US depends on mutual trust

EU desperately pushes just-as-dodgy safe harbour alternatives

dan1980

Re: rapid flow of information between the EU and the US depends on mutual trust

@AC

This is the heart of the matter - 'Safe Harbour' essentially says that the EU trusts the US to respect EU laws and the privacy EU citizens and so handle their data accordingly.

What is manifestly clear is that nothing of the sort is occurring. The US think their own laws and interests override those of the EU citizens it is dealing with. And, while that might be a perfectly valid, sovereign stance, it is antithetical to the concept and the basis of 'Safe Harbour'.

The simple truth is that US laws make it impossible for any US company to offer the required level of data protection.

There's just no getting around that so the only two ways forward are:

  • The EU make some changes to their EU data protection, watering the down by adding exceptions.
  • The US make some changes to their laws, making exceptions for overseas data.

Of course, there's always the third option, I suppose, which is to slap a band-aid over it and just proceed as usual, hoping it will all go away until something else happens and you have to find another band-aid. That's really the most likely option in the short to medium term.

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