EU MPs Investigating US Info Snooping To See If It Violates EU Privacy Laws

from the whoops dept

Thu, Jan 13th 2011 7:18pm — Mike Masnick

Via Slashdot, we learn that a group of European MPs are apparently asking the European Commission to determine if the US government violated EU privacy rules with its attempt to get info from Twitter on various Wikileaks associates. We had already noted that Icelandic officials were upset with the US, since one of the accounts under investigation was an Icelandic Member of Parliament.

Of course, I have to say that as troubling as the US government's investigation appears to be, this particular response seems a little silly. The request for information was to a US company for info on US servers. That European users were involved really shouldn't much matter. Now, there is a somewhat silly "safe harbor" system that the Commerce Department has set up for American companies to get around the fact that the EU Privacy Directive forbids the transfer of personal info from Europeans to non-EU countries unless they have similar privacy laws (the US does not). However, I don't think the safe harbor would apply here either. This seems more like political grandstanding by some EU politicians against the US. I agree that there are problems with the investigation, but worrying about the EU privacy directive seems like a bit of a stretch.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: eu, privacy, wikileaks
Companies: twitter, wikileaks

18 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Pixelation, 13 Jan 2011 @ 7:19pm

"worrying about the EU privacy directive seems like a bit of a stretch"

If the situation were reversed, the US would be crying foul.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Christopher (profile), 13 Jan 2011 @ 7:44pm

Actually, by INTERNATIONAL law, the place where the people in question live IS a consideration. Even if a company has a presence in a foreign country, another country can sidestep those laws of their home country and ask for information about someone who is in ANOTHER country without good reason.

Doesn't seem like a stretch to me about the EU privacy directive, to be blunt.... not ALL of Twitter's servers are based in the United States, or am I wrong on that?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2011 @ 7:52pm

Well the U.S. government is just asking for a smack down from the world.

If they keep pushing those things governments will step up and downright forbid American companies from being used by their population.

The problem?

The request for information was to a US company for info on US servers

If companies cannot assure that they can respect the laws inside those countries, those governments will take steps to negate them market, first and foremost because it reduces competition for them and they see that as good just ask IP apologist anywhere and second because no country in the world wants to give information about its citizens to others let alone allow that be used to do something that could potentially harm them in some way that they didn't foresee.

American tech companies could find themselves in a very dark place if the American government doesn't get their act together, people all over the world are just etching for an excuse to exclude somebody.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2011 @ 8:00pm

I think the U.S. government is just trying to destroy the tech industry, if they are not they should stop trying to help.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Big Al, 13 Jan 2011 @ 8:35pm

Re:
Since when has the US taken any notice of International Law?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chris in Utah (profile), 13 Jan 2011 @ 8:40pm

Caugh Caught
Psst... hey hey... pssst... YO over here. I regret to inform the powers that be are desperate and seeking to exert power from the top where ever they can.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ltlw0lf (profile), 13 Jan 2011 @ 8:50pm

Re: Re:
Since when has the US taken any notice of International Law?

When they (the US government) or their corporations are the victims?

I don't know...I figure they have to care about it once in a while when it suits them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2011 @ 8:51pm

Re:
How does this justify whether the US or the EU can complain?

It is more smoke and mirrors to distract the public.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2011 @ 9:16pm

They may want to be careful what they wish for, otherwise twitter may be forced to cut the entire EU off, because you never know what information might be moved around.

Hmm!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
J.J. (profile), 13 Jan 2011 @ 9:23pm

What you missed here mike is that they're bringing up the debate on the SWIFT agreement again, this - valid or not - is bringing up the sharing of banking data with the US.
Potentially this could wreck a lot of information sharing between the EU and the US.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2011 @ 9:58pm

Re:
Mollusconi wouldn't mind that, also Sarkorzy would love it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Christopher (profile), 13 Jan 2011 @ 11:40pm

Re: Re:
You have a point there, Big Al.... I was just pointing out how things are SUPPOSED to work in a world with the United Nations and international law.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 1:12am

Imagine the DHS response when the EU decides not to sharew info from a suspected EU terrorist over this...

Oh wait, they're all CIA -sanctioned, 'cause it's un-Amerrican otherwise.[/sarc]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Any Mouse (profile), 14 Jan 2011 @ 5:10am

Re:
I'm not sure I understand your argument. We're talking about a US company, based in the US, with servers in the US. That people in other countries decide to use the service does not force the service to comply with the laws of THEIR country, rather it forces the USERS to comply with US law.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
btr1701, 14 Jan 2011 @ 6:58pm

Re: Law
> by INTERNATIONAL law, the place where the people in question
> live IS a consideration

Please cite the law-- title and section-- that mandates what you claim.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
BTR1701, 14 Jan 2011 @ 7:04pm

Re: Law
> If companies cannot assure that they can respect the laws inside
> those countries

What happens if the law in Country A conflicts with the law in Country B? Which law does the US have to respect? Which law is the US company supposed to follow?

There are almost 200 countries in the world and many of them, like the US have multiple jurisdictions in their legal systems. The idea that I should have to become an expert on every legal regime worldwide, from Iran to China to Cote d'Ivoire, merely because I put up a website is ridiculous.

I obey the law where I live. Period. It's all that's required of me.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2011 @ 3:55am

So... Wikileaks only has to close it's US servers and the US can't demand anything?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
bikey, 15 Jan 2011 @ 6:27am

If only we had such grandstanding in the US - imagine a US politician standing up and saying, 'wait a minute, we have privacy laws (which of course we don't) to protect citizens'. What a shocker that would be. We don't even expect it. EU privacy law is real (or at least it used to be before the US shot it out of the water it with Passenger Name Record and the bank-privacy-invading SWIFT). The problem in Europe is that US lobbying (and EU lily-liveredness) in the name of 'terrorism' have destroyed much-needed laws protecting individuals from the invasive eyes of the state, and their personal data from becoming a commodity. What Europe needs, and what we all need, is more of this 'grandstanding'.
[ link to this | view in thread ]