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Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
51–60 of 91 posts
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
"European Union legislation requires companies to protect the personal information of EU citizens" It's the law. What's more, it's a good law. I am concerned that they broke it, and seem to have tried to hide this.
> I am concerned that they broke it, and seem to have tried to hide this. By, uh, mentioning it to journalists? There's a difference between hiding something and simply not announcing it loudly to the world.
> There's a difference between hiding something and simply not announcing it loudly to the world
But not a huge difference. It's something that would definitely be of interest.
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
And corporations based and operating in Europe are subject to our data protection laws. Microsoft and Google (and plenty others) have fully fledged companies in Europe. This raises an interesting question - what should companies do when they are subject to mutually exclusive laws like that? My opinion is that they need to comply with the laws, which might require not having overseas companies in this case. Could they…
I'm merely guessing, but seeing how the law takes a backseat when security and anti-terror are involved I suppose that EU governments and the US have reached some sort of agreement about which set of laws to enforce in certain cases.
> the law takes a backseat when security and anti-terror are involved
Read that statement. Again. Are you worried yet?
Are you saying that Europe is not governed by law, and citizens protections are optional there, or just that this is what happens in the USA?
If the former, I hope Europe can fix that. If the latter, why is Europe's problem?
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
No it doesn't: > Gordon Frazer, Microsoft UK's managing director, made news headlines some weeks ago when he admitted that Microsoft can be compelled to share data with the US government regardless of where it is hosted in the world.
Read between the lines. Don't be naive.
I'm not being naive, I'm being factually accurate. I would 100% agree with the statement "Microsoft has probably done the same", for example, but this article does not provide supporting evidence that they have.
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#55If this had been the other way round, I can easily imagine this issue going to U.S. Congress, leading to hearings, etc.
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Read between the lines. Don't be naive.
I'm not being naive, I'm being factually accurate. I would 100% agree with the statement "Microsoft has probably done the same", for example, but this article does not provide supporting evidence that they have.
This is a news article. It sounds like you are assuming news=facts. Microsoft employs FUD in the media. In this case, they are making specific use of the U in FUD. They are neither confirming or denying that they have ever shared such information, thus one can safely assume they have. If they hadn't, they would come out and state that clearly.
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#57Hypothetical question that would never happen: What's to stop Google moving to Switzerland?
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#58"Do no evil" -- What do you think? Does this qualify as a breach of their motto? Or is it only a clear message to those who may have thought their Google data is private?
When the government (that your business operates) is requiring you to hand over data what do you do? Is it Google's fault or the US government? I certainly don't think complying with the law is "evil". If the law is bad, fix the law.
I agree it's a very tough place to be.
About fixing the law -- In that case I would expect Google to fight the government on this point. I wonder if they are/will?
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not about earnings. Having datacenters in europe would still require them to respect the laws in europe. They need those datacenters for latency and plenty of other reasons. If they were forced to only reside in the US or in Europe it would make for a shitty experience for where they are not. And going to europe isn't really feasible when most of the developers they hire come from the US. They could come to Cana…
I wonder if it's a structural problem: if the problem is that the parent incorporation is in the US rather than the US incorporation being a subsidiary of a holding company in e.g. the Cayman Islands. That seems like it'd be a solvable, if massively annoying problem.
Good point,it would also be interesting to know if this affects any business that does business in the US or only US based. My bet is it's the former (I am not a lawyer). Just because of the loophole you exposed. Think of all the foreign banks.
Re: Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies
#60This is a very real problem and provides case in point as to why everyone needs to start using client-side encryption for their data and communications.
In some cases this is still currently impractical to do on a day to day basis but in others such as Email, Social Networking or Instant Messaging it is not[1][2].
[1] I'm involved with a company that recently launched a free tool that provides transparent client-side AES256 encryption for Facebook, Google+, Major Email apps among others.