

30 US Companies Said To Be Violating EU Data Transfer Deal - golden_apples
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/14/safe-harbour-cdd-ftc-complaint/

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dan_bk
> Our investigation found that many of the companies are involved with a web
> of powerful multiple data broker partners who, unknown to the EU public,
> pool their data on individuals so they can be profiled and targeted online.

I would like to see the consumers' faces the day they understand that
companies like Google have been tracking their every step on the Web via
background requests to Google's properties such as Google Analytics - for
ages.

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anemitz
What are the implications of actually breaking this agreement? Does the FTC
actually have the authority to fine these companies? If so, how much can they
be fined?

~~~
Silhouette
Well, for one thing, it would mean these US organisations could fall foul of
European law directly themselves, putting them at risk of sanctions if they
have any people or assets within European jurisdiction.

For another thing, it would mean European companies _using_ these services
could get in trouble for failing to honour their own data protection
obligations to their own customers. Those companies are definitely within
European jurisdictions, and they are therefore subject to European data
protection regulators, and in some cases those regulators have significant
teeth. So potentially this could see European businesses switching away from
non-compliant US businesses to protect their own legal position.

Finally, this is not good news for the US government. Safe Harbor is already
under scrutiny because the European authorities can't just turn a blind eye to
US government snooping in the post-Snowden world, which means in reality no US
business can truly claim to meet the Safe Harbor requirements, which means
every European company that works with those US businesses has an element of
risk now. Given that privacy vs. free speech is one of the widest cultural
gaps between the US and Europe, and that if activist lawsuits start flying and
European companies start to pull out then the US has much more to lose, this
is really not a subject where the US government wants to rock the boat right
now.

Bottom line: If these big US companies really are flagrantly violating the
Safe Harbor deal, you can probably expect some significant pressure to be put
on them by the US government to clean up their acts in the near future, and if
they don't comply, you can probably expect that it won't stop there either.

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golden_apples
I'm curious to see which companies were examined - if any were investigated
and were found to be meeting regulations, or could be held up as exemplary.

The paper details 30 companies investigated and found lacking, but no mention
of how extensive the survey was. Was every single company they looked at in
violation? Did they check out 100 companies and find 30 that didn't comply?

