Do you feel the US Patriot Act, and EU Data Legislation are in conflict leaving end users, and businesses confused as to their expectations of Privacy?
Yes, the US Patriot Act and EU Data laws are in conflict which leave end users and businesses confused as to their expectations of privacy. The EU has a strict opt-out policy where everyone’s privacy is guarded by law. This is in direct contrast to the US Patriot Act, which overrides every US citizen’s right to privacy under the guise of national security. Therefore, this affects global commerce and communications because European communications to the US can potentially be monitored, as can US communications to Europe. This renders safe harbor contracts mute. Such a set-up is especially tricky because the US Supreme Court has given businesses the rights to act as individuals. Therefore, if an individual’s privacy can be steamrolled by to the US Patriot Act, how can any business expect its corporate communications and data to be protected?
Allan Pratt, InfoSecurity & CyberSecurity Strategist, @Tips4Tech
To find out more about our panel members visit the biographies page.
The opinions expressed in this post belongs to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.