

European commission backs Merkel's call for tougher data protection laws - k-mcgrady
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/15/european-commission-angela-merkel-data-protection

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sentenza
Please take note: Merkel has behaved extremely apathetic considering that she
is in the middle of a reelection campaign. This has multiple reasons, one of
which is that her ideological compass indicates that "staunch support" for
whatever the US does is always the right answer. For example, she always
supported the Iraq invasion. Fortunately she wasn't the chancellor then.

What we see here is the absolute minimum she thinks she can get away with.
However, since the criticism over here of her inactivity (and complicity) is
only getting started, the situation might push her to go further than that.

~~~
Bjoern
Seconded. I'm also completely flabbergasted that she still claims to have
known nothing of it as well as other high ranking politicians, despite the
known involvement of the BND.

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lazyjones
At the same time, Germany's interior minister Friedrich visited the US
allegedly to complain or inquire about the NSA spying, but in reality he
discussed broader cooperation around PRISM and possibly more extensive access
for the BND (in German: [http://www.golem.de/news/bundesinnenminister-beim-us-
besuch-...](http://www.golem.de/news/bundesinnenminister-beim-us-besuch-
weitere-kooperation-zu-prism-vereinbart-1307-100379.html)).

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chiph
The BND (German intelligence agency) has made use of the NSA data. But so far,
they're saying it was just for locating German citizens who had been kidnapped
abroad.

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gst
Similar (official) reason to why data retention for cell phone location data
exists in Austria: To locate mountaineers who got lost in the Alps.

~~~
cygx
Well, us Germans like to joke that the Swiss are a bit on the slow side, so
from them I'd buy keeping data around for 6 months for that reason.

But what's your excuse ;)

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toyg
All this European posturing is just that, posturing, but it's the worst of
possible worlds for Obama: be it in a friendly or hostile manner, every
European government can now ask for _favours_ in order to turn a blind eye to
the whole mess.

Most politicians will likely ask for increased data-sharing agreements _under
the table_ , while publicly decrying the sorry state of things. The EC can be
a real threat for US businesses, which is why Merkel and friends needed this
statement: it's the big stick to bring to the table while we speak softly to
our American friends.

~~~
diminoten
You're falsely assuming Obama gives a crap about how the EU reacts to the
Snowden leaks. The whole point of spycraft is that it happens clandestinely.

~~~
toyg
And the whole point of diplomacy is that it produces _public_ trade
agreements.

~~~
mcv
Ah, but didn't the US also pioneer secret trade agreements?

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ovidiup
Isn't her call addressing the wrong problem? She should be mad at the US
government about the illegal wiretapping of Internet communication, instead of
accusing and punishing US Internet companies for something they don't have a
say into or cannot even talk about.

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forgottenpaswrd
Bureaucracy in action.

So now, EC wants American companies to tell them "what you do with the data",
by law.

American law states the contrary "whatever we do is secret, you can't tell
anybody, or we will send you a SWAT team to your house, and imprison you
forever. Foreigners are adversaries, enemies...you are a patriot if you
collaborate, a traitor if you don't, like Snowden"

Who is going to win? Obviously what happens in FB or Google headquarters is
unknown to the bureaucrats, so they will continue, they are Americans after
all.

~~~
mcv
I can see FB and Google splitting into a US-based main company and an EU-based
subsidiary. EU users will be handled by the EU company and US users by the US
company.

~~~
tjansen
...and every time the US based company prepares a new version, we can wait a
few months until all the paper work had been filled out and the EU has
approved it. Go VPN...

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FellowTraveler
What do you want to bet these data protection laws will do a better job of
protecting authorities, than they will "protecting" users?

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mtgx
I don't know whether to upvote this or not. On one hand I want tougher data
protection laws, on the other hand I'm pretty sure Merkel is just "pretending"
to want this to win the election (much like Obama did).

~~~
anigbrowl
Who cares why she's doing it? You don't vote on motivations, you vote on
positions because those are the only objective criteria you can hold (or
attempt to hold) a politician to. Betting on motivation is a receipe for
political weakness.

I supported Obama but I knew perfectly well that he was a security hawk
because _he said so._ He stated perfectly clearly that we was willing to
impinge on other countries' sovereignty in pursuit of his national security
objectives and stuck to that position under criticism from other candidates.
People that express surprise about his policy choices clearly didn't listen to
what he was saying, but told themselves fairy stories about what he 'meant.'

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disputin
What do internet companies have to do with tapped cables?

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weinzierl
Nothing. As a German I have the right to obtain a copy of all personal
information that public authorities (§ 19 BDSG) or companies (§ 34 BDSG) store
about me - for free. There are similar laws on the EU level.

The problem is that U.S. companies, even if they have their headquarter in
Europe (like Facebook in Dublin) just don't care. You can read more about that
on the Europe vs Facebook page. [http://europe-v-facebook.org/](http://europe-
v-facebook.org/)

~~~
disputin
My point is that this is a red herring.

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loginalready
Although Merkel is just being opportunistic, I'm optimistic that, like with
ACTA, we are slowly seeing that the complete sell-out of European civil rights
to US interests is no longer politically sustainable.

Whether they mean it or not, the fact that the staunchest supporters of the US
feel the political need to speak out is significant in itself.

The US has gone a bridge to far by treating the citizens of a friendly nations
as the enemy.

