老澳门开奖结果

I wrote recently about the U.S. government and companies lobbying against the EU鈥檚 attempt to strengthen their privacy laws, and our own efforts at the 老澳门开奖结果 to advance high transnational privacy standards. Our efforts helped attract a round of press coverage of this unfolding drama (including stories in the and ). We鈥檝e also written a along with other privacy groups to senior Obama Administration officials, asking for a meeting to discuss the issue.

In all the coverage of this issue on both sides of the Atlantic, stands out. It鈥檚 from Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the Article 29 Working Group, which represents the privacy commissioners from all the EU member states. Saying European lawmakers were 鈥渇ed up鈥� with U.S. companies pressuring Europe to weaken their fundamental principles, he pointed out,

You鈥檙e not going to change your Fourth Amendment because of a business model in Europe are you? If such a lobby from the European side were organised towards Congress, we would be kicked out of there.

The quote succinctly captures so much of what鈥檚 wrong with what鈥檚 happening on this front. The only quibble I would have is Kohnstamm鈥檚 implication that what the U.S. lobbyists are trying to weaken are European privacy principles. They are also the principles that underlie American life, even if we haven鈥檛 yet given them expression in an overarching privacy law as the Europeans have, and even if they are at the moment being run roughshod over by some of today鈥檚 big companies.